Deutsche Telekom is set to launch the long-awaited secure, legally binding – and paid – e-mail system known as De-Mail throughout Germany on August 31.
“De-Mail brings us a step closer to the gigabit society,” Telekom CEO René Obermann said.
Deutsche Telekom and other De-Mail peddlers mean to use the widgetry to put Deutsche Post and other conventional mail carriers out of business.
It says 17.5 billion pieces of mail are sent a year in Germany, 90% of it business mail, and much of it can be done electronically.
It expects De-Mail, which was developed at the instigation of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, to become the standard in the next few years, replacing 29% of the 17.5 billion letters and 39% of the 3 5.4 billion faxes sent a year in Germany by 2018.