Stand: 12.6.2005 (55. Ed.) – File: Summary.html
Note: Since December 9, 1997 things have become much easier. DEC's AltaVista has launched a real time language translation service for Web content. It is recommended using this service by cutting & pasting German text out of other pages of the "t-off" magazine.
Oh Sprint, please come and save me
From prices of Telekom Germany.
Oh AT&T, come to our aid,
So much money we have paid.
For quality that's rotten,
And services best forgotten.
Oh please, come save us and me
From a greedy state monopoly.
Scott Stevenson – Found in Internet 1996.
Raising phone rates in 1996
German's state-owned company Deutsche Telekom AG raised charges (up to +161 %, 4.80 DM per hour [$2.65] in prime time!) for local phone calls on January 1, 1996 and lowered the cost of long-distance calls a little, removing what it says is a hefty cross- subsidy on the local calls (up to 20 km). But the regulators of Germany's government ("Regulierungsrat") didn't control prices to protect customers from the undue price increase, and they didn't encourage real competition.Now, the Telekom has the world's highest charges for local calls ("Ortsgespräche"). Therefore, accessing the Internet in Germany is very expensive (confirmed by the OECD in April 1997). Critics accuse Telekom of telling not the truth, and abusing its monopoly to help it prepare for future competition. Germany's telecommunication market (and the EU market, too) was opened to full competition on January 1, 1998.
Protesters marching
Many protesters since January 1996 marching in Berlin, Hamburg and Munich called for withdrawing the "unsocial" charges. More than 1 million Germans have signed a protest note against the extreme communication unfriendly phone rates. On May 4, 1996 on the Kurfürstendamm in Berlin the longest protest letter of the world was rolled out by protesters. The protest was coordinated by the "Aktion billiges Telefon" (more info's via Dr. Helga Frisch, Berlin, +4930 – 892 10 07). It was closed in October 1996 without a success. The Deutsche Telekom AG and German politicians didn't give an answer to the letter of protest.
Costs of local phone calls
In May 1996 a new study "Kosten des Ortsnetzes" (costs of local networks) by Prof. Ingo Vogelsang was published by the VATM, German's association of Telekom's competitors. The paper shows that there wasn't any cross-subsidy on the local calls at all, and that Telekom used insufficient economical methods in calculating its costs and in setting the prices, preventing real competition in the near future. In 1997 other studies confirmed these findings, eg. the most important KPMG paper ordered by the European Commission.
No local telephone competition
In July 1996 the German monopolies' commission said it was "necessary" that Deutsche Telekom sells its cable network so that other operators would have access to the local telecoms network. While competition is expected to emerge rapidly on the long-distance networks, local telecom traffic will remain in Deutsche Telekom's hands, because it dominates the business through its access to households.The controversy over Telekom's pricing came as it was preparing its marketing campaign for the 15 billion Deutsche Marks ($ 10.4 billion) in new shares ("T-Aktie") to be sold to the wide public and investors on November 18, 1996 all around the world. The sale was billed as Europe's largest ever sale of state assets.
High costs of Internet access
Even moderate Internet users in Germany with 20 hours of on-line usage can run up more than $106 in bills each month. Such Internet users pay anywhere from $10 to $53 per month to an Internet service provider (ISP), and then pay Deutsche Telekom AG 6.7 cents (during day) for each 90 seconds they are on the phone to that ISP. Analysts have said these high time-dependent costs hinder Internet use in Germany.
Boycott campaign
On November 1, 1998 a 24-hour boycott was held by German Internet users to protest the high cost of making a local phone call in Germany, which drives up costs for Internet use. But Deutsche Telekom AG against whom the 'strike' was aimed, plays down the impact. The New York Times reported: "Though the protest posed no financial threat to the company, the protesters nevertheless generated a torrent publicity that has generally put the company in an unpopular light."
No cut of phone line charges / Monthly flat rate claimed
In March 1999 German's Bertelsmann AG media group called on Deutsche Telekom AG to cut its phone line charges for access to the Internet. Bertelsmann's multimedia chief, Klaus Eierhoff, said Telekom should charge Internet users a flat monthly rate for the telephone connection instead of a per-minute charge. In the United States, Internet users are charged a flat monthly rate which works out at around 30 marks ($16.85). [more]
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© 1996-2005 – Dipl.-Ing. Karl-Heinz Dittberner
(khd) – Berlin
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Last Update: 11.07.2011 07.59 Uhr