Telekom Targets €2.5 Billion in AI Cost Savings by 2030
At its investor day the Bonn group put numbers on it: €1.1 billion less in indirect costs in 2027, €2.5 billion by 2030 — AI spending not deducted.
In short
Deutsche Telekom plans to cut its indirect annual costs by about €2.5 billion by 2030 against its 2023 baseline using AI and automation, with €1.1 billion of that due in 2027.
At a glance
- Indirect annual costs are to run about €2.5 billion below their 2023 level by 2030.
- Gross savings of €1.1 billion are planned for 2027, also measured against 2023.
- The cost of the AI technology itself is excluded from that savings math.
- AI revenue from business customers outside the US: about €250 million this year, €800 million by 2030.
- A chatbot handled about 2.6 million service calls in the first half; US service calls fell 55 percent.
Deutsche Telekom wants AI and automation to pull about €2.5 billion a year out of its indirect costs by 2030, measured against 2023. The DAX-listed operator set out the plan at an investor day on Monday, October 5, 2026. An interim step comes first: gross savings of €1.1 billion in 2027, on the same 2023 baseline.
Read the caveat before the headline number
The target covers indirect costs — overhead rather than spending tied directly to revenue. The company is explicit that the cost of the AI technology doing the work is not netted off. So €2.5 billion is a gross figure, and the bottom-line effect depends on a bill the operator has not published.
Telekom says it deploys AI where repetitive volume piles up: network operations, customer service, software development and administrative processes. Chief executive Tim Höttges said AI is changing the company “from the ground up” and making its networks “even better and more intelligent.”
Customer service is where the receipts are
The firmest numbers come from support. A chatbot took roughly 2.6 million customer calls in the first half of the year. In the US business, the volume of calls into customer service dropped 55 percent, and AI agents now handle 40 percent of customer contacts there.
A revenue target sits next to the cost target
Outside the United States, Telekom aims to lift AI-related revenue from business customers to €800 million by 2030. This year the figure should be about €250 million, so the target implies roughly tripling that line in four years.
What the filings do not say yet
Neither report reviewed here puts a number on jobs cut or redeployed by the automation, and neither says where the saved money goes. A Golem.de teaser points to fiber rollout as one destination for part of the sum, but that article sat behind a consent wall during this write-up, so the claim stays unverified here.
The first real check arrives with the 2027 annual report, when the €1.1 billion can be traced against reported indirect costs rather than taken on guidance.
FAQ
How much does Telekom want to save with AI?
About €2.5 billion a year in indirect costs by 2030, against its 2023 level, with €1.1 billion in gross savings pencilled in for 2027.
Does the plan include job cuts?
No figure was given in the reports reviewed. Telekom named only the work areas involved: network operations, customer service, software development and administration.
How much revenue is Telekom targeting from AI?
€800 million from business customers outside the US by 2030, up from about €250 million this year.
