Deutsche Telekom pushes De-Mail

* Pre-registration available immediately for residential customers
* Free-of-charge introductory offer for residential customers
* Mobile access to De-Mail mailbox

With immediate effect residential customers of Deutsche Telekom with an @t-online.de e-mail address can pre-register at www.de-mail.t-online.de without any further obligations. Pre-registered customers will be informed by Deutsche Telekom at a later stage so that they can reserve their personal e-mail address free of charge via the De-Mail Internet portal.

Free-of-charge introductory offer for launch of De-Mail
De-Mail is scheduled to be launched in the coming year once the relevant De-Mail law has been passed. Deutsche Telekom has already prepared an introductory offer. A free-of-charge basic package will include pre-registration, a reserved personal De-Mail address and the corresponding secure mailbox. Users will also be given a certain number of De-Mails free of charge for secure and legally binding communication via the Internet.

Access to De-Mail also possible by mobile phone
De-Mail makes it possible to send and receive legally binding electronic messages and documents in a way that is confidential and protected against forgery. The mail system can be used on any computer in the world that is equipped with a browser and Internet access. De-Mail can even be accessed via the latest mobile phones with Internet access (Smartphones).

“Deutsche Telekom already has millions of e-mail customers, which gives it the ideal basis for legally binding De-Mail,” said Niek Jan van Damme, member of the Deutsche Telekom Board of Management responsible for Germany. “We are providing secure, legally binding communication via the Internet and pushing ahead with our strategy of becoming the best partner for the Internet sector.”

Corporate customers waiting for De-Mail
Major companies such as ZF Friedrichshafen AG, a producer of driveline and chassis technologies, were involved in the pilot operation coordinated by the Federal Ministry of the Interior. “There is an extremely high level of interest in De-Mail among companies, public institutions and other organizations,” said Deutsche Telekom Board member and T-Systems CEO Reinhard Clemens. "Legally binding communication via the Internet is long overdue. The gain in security and efficiency can develop into a driving force for the entire economy.” It would need as many people as possible to take part in De-Mail - and Deutsche Telekom’s residential customer base is a good start for that.

Background to De-Mail
De-Mail is a digital alternative to today’s paper-based correspondence. Delivery of electronic mail can be proven. The sender is informed that he has sent a message, to whom the message was sent and when it reached the recipient’s mailbox. The electronic exchange of messages is legally binding for both the sender and the recipient as De-Mail is based on defined, state-tested characteristics.

The aim of De-Mail therefore is to be able to send and receive legally binding, sensitive documents that are subject to a deadline and store them in the secure document safe, such as insurance and purchase contracts or banking documents. Written correspondence with lawyers or public authorities can also be handled entirely via De-Mail. Proof of delivery is also possible, essentially the De-Mail equivalent in the virtual world of a recorded delivery.

The planned De-Mail law will define all the characteristics of De-Mail and set them out in additional regulations. All providers of De-Mail services will have to satisfy these requirements.

Certified security
All providers intending to offer a De-Mail service will have to go through several certification processes in areas such as IT security and data privacy. The relevant certificates will be issued by the Federal Office for Information Security and the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information. One of the main differences between De-Mail and regular e-mail is the significantly higher level of security, especially thanks to the ability to unambiguously identify the parties involved. The new service will prevent data from being intercepted, falsified and tapped. The online document safe provides also a high security standard. It allows users to store all their important electronic documents securely, such as bank statements, contracts or certificates. All documents are stored in encrypted form and protected against loss or manipulation. Registered users can each set up an electronic archive with all their important personal documents in digital form, giving them online access to them forever from anywhere in the world.

Internet portal to register for De-Mail
Customers can pre-register for a De-Mail address now at
www.de-mail.t-online.de. A De-Mail address is structured like an
e-mail address, e.g. firstname.lastname[.number]@providerxy.de-mail.de, (specifically: werner.meyer@t-online.de-mail.de). If the combination of first names and last names occurs more than once, the address will be supplemented with a number in the order in which registrations are received. There would then be, for example, werner.meyer.10@t-online.de-mail.de.

Successful pilot project in the T-City
The Federal Ministry of the Interior successfully tested De-Mail in a pilot project in the T-City, Friedrichshafen. Over 800 inhabitants and 40 companies, chambers and public authorities with around 400 additional users test De-Mail in the six-month pilot phase. Demand for De-Mail remains high after the successful conclusion of the pilot phase, which is why Deutsche Telekom has expanded the area in which it is on offer. De-Mail is now available to all companies and individuals who have reached the age of majority in the Lake Constance/Upper Swabia region. Companies with business dealings in the region can also register. The Federal Ministry of the Interior welcomes the staging of industry pilot projects by providers interested in offering De-Mail. Together with the Federal Office for Information Security, the Ministry also gives support with questions relating to technical regulations which will be the basis for licensing De-Mail providers once the legislative procedure has been completed. The offer runs until December 31, 2010. Private individuals and companies in the Lake Constance / Upper Swabia region can register for De-Mail at www.t-online.de-mail.de or at www.t-systems.de-mail.de.

About Deutsche Telekom AG
Deutsche Telekom is one of the world’s leading integrated telecommunications companies with over 150 million mobile customers, around 38 million fixed-network lines and more than 15 million broadband lines (as of March 31, 2010). The Group provides products and services for the fixed network, mobile communications, the Internet and IPTV for consumers, and ICT solutions for business customers and corporate customers. Deutsche Telekom is present in around 50 countries and has over 258,000 employees worldwide. The Group generated revenue of EUR 64.6 billion in the 2009 financial year – over half of it outside Germany (as of December 31, 2009).