Deutsche Telekom CEO Rene Obermann (pictured) has set out the German firm’s strategy for organic growth both home and abroad this week, reports Dow Jones Newswires. Obermann has set a target of almost doubling sales to close to EUR30 billion by 2015 by focusing on areas such as Mobile Internet, broadband offers, Web hosting and data solutions, which he says could generate up to an additional EUR13 billion in sales. He added that the strategy was designed to enable Deutsche Telekom “to return to the growth path by 2012, not by acquisitions but through organic growth.” In its home market – where it recently merged its mobile and fixed-line arms into a single unit – the firm is planning to ramp-up competition with the cable and pay TV companies by connecting around 10 percent of German households with its fibre network. Overall sales in Germany, which have declined in recent years, should stabilise by 2012, the company said.

Obermann also outlined its strategy for T-Mobile USA, the US subsidiary that has traditionally been a growth engine for the firm but has struggled in recent quarters. He said that T-Mobile USA wants to raise its operating margin based on service revenue to above 35 percent by 2012 (from 31.2 percent in 2009). According to Dow Jones Newswires, the firm invested US$3.5 billion upgrading its networks in the US last year to compete with rivals such as Verizon Wireless and AT&T. “The most important thing in 2010 is to lay the foundation for future growth,” Obermann said. “We believe that the mobile internet in the US has only just begun and is going to be a growth story for many years.” Separately though, Reuters notes that Robert Dotson, chief executive of T-Mobile USA, told analysts at an investor presentation today that the mobile operator is looking at possible joint ventures with cable companies and network providers to boost its spectrum capacity. “We continue to look at JV opportunities for additional spectrum… there are a number of different options we look at, (we) have been talking with cable companies, with Clearwire,” he stated. T-Mobile USA has also previously been linked to a merger with rivals Sprint, Leap Wireless or MetroPCS, but Dotson appeared to rule out the prospect of a Sprint deal.