Raw Data: Deutsche Telekom, Data Use and ‘Net Neutrality’

Deutsche Telekom, the former monopoly that controls 60 percent of broadband Internet connections in the country, said April 22 that it would impose hard-and-fast download limits on all customers of its home Internet service, starting in 2016.

Deutsche Telekom said that soaring data traffic, which is expected to quadruple by 2016, would force it to impose limits that had been applied only to mobile users.

Under a new pricing plan, Deutsche Telekom would slow landline Internet customers to a rate of 384 kilobits a second, once the download limit is reached, which for many consumers would be at 75 gigabytes of downloads per month — enough to send more than 15,000 e-mails or download and watch 100 movies. The operator said it planned to sell upgrades that would let consumers increase their limits.

The Deutsche Telekom proposal is controversial not only because it would impose the nation’s first comprehensive download limits on landline broadband service; Deutsche Telekom also plans to exempt from the limits the traffic generated by its own Internet television service, Entertain. At the same time, the operator does not plan to exempt the traffic of rival services, like YouTube, from Google; iTunes, from Apple; or Facebook.

“With Entertain, customers are paying for television, so we will make sure they aren’t sitting in front of a black screen,” said Michael Hagspihl, the Deutsche Telekom head of marketing.

In Germany, the announcement has provoked scrutiny. The country’s telecom regulator, the Bundesnetzagentur, said it would review the new tariff structure for potential violations of network neutrality principles, which generally hold that the government and Internet service providers should not discriminate or charge differently, based on the customer or the type of content.

Additionally, in the European Union, operators are barred from selectively blocking services of Web-based rivals for financial gain.

The German economics minister, Philipp Rösler, said his agency would scrutinize the legality of Deutsche Telekom’s plans. So did the German consumer protection minister, Ilse Aigner.

A group representing small and midsize businesses said the new broadband tariffs would lead to significant price increases for small businesses and the self-employed, who typically spend more time than most consumers surfing the Web.

“The massive restrictions planned by the leading provider of Internet in Germany would not only significantly affect consumers but especially freelancers and the self-employed, who would be thrown back to the 1990s in terms of Internet speeds,” said Oliver Grün, the president of Bundesverband IT Mittelstand, which represents 800 small and midsize businesses.

Deutsche Telekom has said that most German consumers average 20 gigabytes of data downloads a month and will not be affected by the new limits.

But consumer groups and government overseers are wary. In Germany, two rivals, 1&1, a reseller of Deutsche Telekom broadband service, and Kabel Deutschland, the country’s biggest cable television operator, have both introduced download limits on their Internet services, but only on the least expensive monthly packages.

Deutsche Telekom has so far not said what its new broadband fees will be. Christian Fronczak, a spokesman for Ms. Aigner, said the consumer protection agency was worried that Deutsche Telekom would create a class system in which surfing would be available only to those consumers who could afford it.

Philipp Blank, a Deutsche Telekom spokesman, said the operator did not plan to release the fees it intended to charge for broadband upgrades until the limits were implemented in 2016.

“It is very difficult in this dynamic industry to say where prices will be in 2016,” Mr. Blank said by telephone.

But the company’s current rates at its T-Mobile Germany wireless subsidiary, where mobile phone customers can double their monthly download allowances by purchasing an upgrade for €5, or $6.50, should serve as “an orientation point” for where the landline fees might eventually be set, Mr. Blank said.

DealBook: Deutsche Telekom Sweetens T-Mobile Bid for MetroPCS

Mary Altaffer/Associated PressA MetroPCS store in Manhattan.

6:07 p.m. | Updated

Deutsche Telekom sweetened a bid by its T-Mobile USA unit for MetroPCS on Wednesday, after running into fierce resistance from shareholders of the target company.

The German company offered to cut the amount of debt the combined company would bear by about $3.8 billion and reduce the interest rate by half a percentage point. It also agreed to extend a lockup period in which the company could not sell shares in the merged cellphone service provider to 18 months from 6 months.

The move will essentially improve the overall value of the merged entity’s equity. Deutsche Telekom estimates that the lower debt and interest rate will add almost $3 a share in additional value for MetroPCS shareholders.

Under the present terms of the offer, MetroPCS shareholders would be paid about $4.09 a share and receive a 26 percent stake in the combined company.

Deutsche Telekom said that its latest proposal was “best and final.” A vote on the deal, which had been set for Friday, has been rescheduled to April 24.

The move is a win for investors like the hedge funds Paulson & Company and P. Schoenfeld Asset Management, who have called for improvements to the original offer. Shares in MetroPCS risen steadily this year, as shareholders expected an improved offer to come, and people involved in the merger have said that the current offer is likely to fail if put to a vote.

Paulson & Company and P. Schoenfeld have argued that the T-Mobile bid as it stands would add too much debt and at too high a price. They have called on Deutsche Telekom to reduce the amount of leverage on the combined American telecom.

Proxy advisory firms like Institutional Shareholder Services have largely sided with the hedge funds, putting additional pressure on Deutsche Telekom to consider raising its offer.

P. Schoenfeld said in a statement that it was pleased by the new offer, though it is currently reviewing its terms.