Deutsche Telekom has now started its new wholesale cable TV service by switching on 20,000 homes on behalf of Deutsche Annington Immobilien Group (DAIG).
About 14 months ago, Deutsche Telekom and the DAIG housing association signed a strategic partnership. The aim of this collaboration is to service up to 171,000 homes owned by the Bochum-based group with TV and high-speed internet services.
The first step was switching on 20,000 households in the Ruhr area of the country. These homes now receive the TV service from Deutsche Telekom. “This was certainly not an everyday project,” said Stefan Kratz from the Competence Center Housing Industry (Wowi) of Deutsche Telekom.
“According to experts, this was the largest TV switchover campaign, which so far existed in Germany.”
“Overall, the migration of households went smoothly. There were some hiccups, but these were resolved on the same day,” said Gaby Schützhold, Head of Service Management Center, which monitors the operation of the new cable network, a positive conclusion.
Early September, another 22,000 households will be connected in the Ruhr area. The partnership provides for Deutsche Telekom to successively switchover the service at 610 locations nationwide of the Annington group.
The new Telekom service will offer broadband speeds of up to 200 Mbps, up- and download, videostreaming in 3D and HD, and cloud solutions for music, videos, pictures and emails. The new cable infrastructure will also offer an extensive line-up of TV packages.
The move marks a return for the German incumbent to the cable business. Originally, Deutsche Telekom owned all the major networks in the former West Germany, now Kabel Deutschland, Unitymedia and Kabel BW.