Deutsche Telekom held an AI investor day in Bonn on Monday, October 5. It said AI and automation should cut its indirect costs by about €2.5 billion by 2030, compared with 2023. It expects gross savings of about €1.1 billion outside the US in 2027.
New to this? Read it in simple words
- Deutsche Telekom says AI will cut its costs by about €2.5 billion by 2030.
- It also wants €800 million of AI sales outside the US by 2030.
- The savings do not count what the AI itself costs.
- The company gave no number for jobs.
- Indirect costs
- Running costs such as service, IT and admin, not network building.
- Gross savings
- Money saved before subtracting the cost of the new tools.
- Sovereign AI
- AI built and run inside a country or region, under its own rules.
The targets
By 2030, Telekom aims to save about €2.5 billion in indirect costs compared with 2023, it said. For 2027 it expects about €1.1 billion of gross savings outside the US.
Part of the extra 2027 savings will go into fibre and digital networks in Germany, the company said.
AI-related revenue from business customers outside the US should grow from about €250 million in 2026 to about €800 million by 2030.
From Deutsche Telekom’s release of October 5 and Reuters’ report. All figures are company targets.
What the company says AI already does
A “RAN Guardian Agent” spots strain on the mobile network early, cutting response time from several hours to about one minute, Telekom says.
Its chatbot Frag Magenta handled about 2.6 million customer service calls in the first half of 2026. In the US, calls to customer service fell 55%, and AI agents handle 40% of contacts.
“AI is fundamentally transforming Deutsche Telekom,” chief executive Tim Höttges said. The company sees Europe’s need for sovereign AI as “a major business opportunity”.
What the numbers leave out
The cost of using the AI is not counted in the savings, Reuters reports. So these are gross savings, not net.
Telekom gave no figure for jobs. It says more than 100,000 employees have been trained to use AI.
The company confirmed its 2026 forecast and medium-term targets.
Sources
Every fact in this story comes from the sources below. Open them to check our work.
- 1Primary source · October 5, 2026Deutsche Telekom boosts growth, efficiency and quality through the use of AI Deutsche Telekom
- 2Research · October 5, 2026Deutsche Telekom sees €2.5 billion in savings from AI, automation by 2030 Reuters
- 3
All figures are Deutsche Telekom’s own targets and claims. No source gave a figure for job cuts.
Deutsche Telekom’s AI savings goals are company targets, and it gave no figure for any effect on jobs. How we rate the mood