Turning old into gold: Disused cell phones become lucky tickets for Telekom customers

• Hand in your used cell phone – win gold  
• Grand prize: one kilogram of recycled gold  
• Telekom donates to “Ein Herz für Kinder” for every smartphone handed in

195 million old cell phones lie unused in drawers, waiting to be recycled. Now these devices can become lucky tickets. Anyone who hands in their cell phone at a Telekom store between October 7 and November 15 can take part in a prize draw. In addition to trips to FC Bayern Munich’s away game against PSV Eindhoven, VIP tickets for soccer games and vouchers for the DFB fan shop will also be raffled off. The grand prize is even a 1-kilogram gold bar made from recycled gold.  

Telekom customers can hand in their old cell phones at a Telekom shop by November 15. Before doing so, they need to download the participation code from the My Magenta app and bring it with them to the shop. Each cell phone counts as one entry, so the more cell phones you hand in, the greater your chances of winning. Each customer can submit up to ten tickets. With a little luck, old cell phones turn into new gold!  

Telekom values and protects resources and uses them carefully and efficiently. We therefore want to use network technology and end devices for as long as possible and avoid electronic waste wherever possible. By 2030, all IT and network technology and the majority of end devices in circulation should be able to be returned to the cycle for reuse. Precious metals such as gold and copper can be recovered from old cell phones, which thus serve as a “mine” for raw materials.

By 2024, Telekom had taken back more than 11 million mobile phones across the Group. Telekom also focuses on taking back other devices such as modems, routers, repeaters, and TV receivers: in 2024, more than 4.6 million devices were returned across the Group. In Germany alone, 1.35 million of these devices were reconditioned for reuse.

All Deutsche Telekom customers are eligible to participate in the campaign. Employees of Deutsche Telekom and its subsidiaries are excluded from this campaign.   

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