Deutsche Telekom Chief Executive Kai-Uwe Ricke presented separate earnings targets at the company's four divisions for the first time and said he's counting on the U.S. wireless business for a major contribution to 2003 growth, reports Dow Jones Newswires. The T-Mobile International will generate an EBITDA of EUR 5.9 billion to EUR 6.4 billion in 2003, compared with EUR 5 billion in 2002. T-Mobile USA will double EBITDA to more than EUR 1 billion, the CEO said at a presentation for investors at the trade fair CeBIT. Overall, Deutsche Telekom forecasts 2003 EBITDA of between EUR 16.7 billion and EUR 17.7 billion. Fixed-line unit T-Com is expected to post EBITDA of between EUR 10 billion and EUR 10.4 billion this year; T-Systems will make EUR 1.3 billion to EUR1.4 billion; and T-Online International AG aims for about EUR 200 million. Ricke said the company has two ways of correcting a division's course, if it falls behind. The first is capital expenditure. "We will only release 80% of each division's capex budgets until we are certain that that division is going to meet its target," Ricke said. The company has a second option to cover any potential shortfall in revenue. Deutsche Telekom has included around EUR 2.3 billion in growth-related expenditure, such as subscriber acquisition costs, in the divisional budgets for 2003.
