Deutsche Telekom expects AI and automation to save about €2.5bn in indirect costs by 2030

Deutsche Telekom says it expects artificial intelligence and automation to deliver savings of about €2.5bn in indirect costs by 2030, compared with 2023. The figure is in a press release dated 5 October 2026, published for the company's AI Investor Day in Bonn.

These are company expectations and targets, not results. The release's own disclaimer says Deutsche Telekom "can offer no assurance that its expectations or targets will be achieved."

The cost figures

The release gives two savings numbers, and they differ in scope:

• 2027: "Telekom expects AI and automation to generate gross savings of approximately 1.1 billion euros outside the U.S. compared to 2023."
• 2030: "it aims to achieve savings of approximately 2.5 billion euros in indirect costs, also compared to 2023." The summary at the top of the release words the same figure as savings that "are expected by 2030".

The 2027 figure is explicitly for operations outside the US. The release does not state whether the 2030 figure covers the same footprint or the whole group, so we have not assumed either.

Deutsche Telekom says some of the money will be spent again: "Additional savings in 2027 are to be partially reinvested in accelerating the digital transformation and in the expansion of the fiber-optic network in Germany."

The release says AI is used where "large volumes of repetitive work occur", naming network operations, customer service, software development and administrative processes.

The revenue target

On the revenue side, the targets are for AI-related sales to business customers outside the US:

• "By 2026, the company expects to generate approximately 250 million euros in AI-related revenue from businesses outside the U.S."
• "It aims to increase this figure to approximately 800 million euros by 2030."

The company says it "sees Europe's need for sovereign AI as a major business opportunity", pointing to its Industrial AI Cloud in Munich and a platform it is developing for small and medium-sized businesses to automate recurring tasks. For background on the term, see our explainer What 'sovereign AI' actually means.

It also says new AI services "are also expected to contribute to growth in the consumer business", including a Magenta AI Assistant that it says can translate mobile phone calls in real time.

What it says AI is already doing

The release cites several operating figures. It does not give a baseline or time period for most of them:

• US customer service: "In the U.S., the number of customer service calls has dropped by 55 percent; AI agents there now handle 40 percent of customer contacts." The release gives no period or baseline for the 55 percent fall.
• Chatbot volume: the "Frag Magenta" chatbot "handled approximately 2.6 million customer service calls in the first half of 2026 alone."
• Complaints: "Initial use cases show a 30 percent decrease in complaints."
• Network: the company says its "RAN Guardian Agent" detects impending strain on the mobile network, such as from large events. "The response time for such events has dropped from several hours to about one minute."
• Staff training: "More than 100,000 employees have already been trained in using AI." The tools it names for employees are AskT, ChatGPT Enterprise and Microsoft Copilot.

The release does not name the US business. The investor-day agenda on telekom.com lists a separate session, "AI at T-Mobile US", given by three T-Mobile US executives.

How it describes the workforce

The release describes the intended working model as: "Employees set goals, review results, and retain responsibility for decisions." It does not say whether the savings involve changes to headcount. Its forward-looking-statements disclaimer lists "the progress of Deutsche Telekom's staff-related restructuring measures" among the risks to its projections.

Chief executive Tim Höttges said: "What matters most is that technology delivers measurable value, for our customers and for our company." At the event he added: "We're just getting started."

The company also said it "confirms its guidance and medium-term targets".

Why it matters

On our reading, the release is notable for attaching euro figures and dates to both sides of the AI case, cost and revenue, rather than describing benefits in general terms. That makes the targets checkable against later results, which Deutsche Telekom's own disclaimer says may differ materially.

Deutsche Telekom is also pitching itself as a supplier of what it calls sovereign AI to European companies and public bodies, as well as a user of AI in its own operations. On our reading, that puts it alongside other European efforts we have covered, such as Mistral's €3bn raise to build what it calls a sovereign European AI stack.

The first figures to watch are the roughly €250m of AI-related revenue outside the US that the company expects by 2026, and the roughly €1.1bn of gross savings outside the US it expects for 2027.