1&1 AG (known until 2 June 2021 as: 1&1 Drillisch Aktiengesellschaft) is a German telecommunications service and landline and mobile telecommunications provider headquartered in Montabaur, Rhineland-Palatinate and listed on the TecDAX. Since 2017, the majority of the company has belonged to United Internet.
At the end of 2021, 1&1 employed 3,167 people and reported revenue of 3.91 billion Euros by the end of the fiscal year. As of 31 December 2021, 1&1 had about 15.4 million customer contracts, 11.2 million of which were for mobile services and 4.2 million for broadband internet. 1&1 Mobilfunk's main competitors are Telekom Deutschland (Deutsche Telekom's German private customer unit), Telefónica Germany and Vodafone Germany.
Infrastructure For its mobile services, the company relies on the network infrastructures of Telefónica Germany (all brands) as well as that of Vodafone Germany (1&1 brand). Due to the requirements of antitrust authorities regarding the merger between E-Plus and Telefónica, Drillisch was able to secure 30% of Telefónica's network capacity. Historically, the company relies on the networks of other providers as well as its own 1&1 Versatel network for its DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) and fiber-optics services. With 1&1 Versatel, its parent company, United Internet, owns its own landline infrastructure operates more and more customer connections with its own broadband supply.
In the sale by auction of 5G frequencies in 2019, the company received the bid for the construction of its own mobile network. Drillisch acquired 50 MHz of spectrum in the 3500 MHz band and 2x10 MHz in the 2100 MHz FDD band. While the network was initially planned to start in 2021, it was later delayed.
A core requirement for 1&1's operations as a network operator is national roaming. The company initially signed a contract with Telefónica Germany in May 2021. However, in August 2023, 1&1 announced a surprise long-term roaming partnership with Vodafone Germany. This agreement was finalized in 2024, enabling 1&1 to use the Vodafone network in areas where its own network is not yet available. By mid-2025, 1&1 had successfully completed the migration of its existing customer base to its own network core.
Group divisions The core business of mobile services is domiciled in the fully affiliated subsidiaries:
1&1 Telecom GmbH Drillisch Online GmbH, including: Eteleon handyvertrag.de M2M-Mobil Maxxim n-tv go! PremiumSIM sim.de simplytel smartmobil.de Telco WinSIM yourfone Drillisch Logistik GmbH (acquired on 5 May 2015, as The Phone House Telecom GmbH from Dixons Carphone plc) IQ-optimize Software AG (for the performance of primarily company-owned IT services for the mobile-services business)
Under the brand names of the Drillisch subsidiaries, primarily mobile-services providers for private customers are marketed via the internet, and M2M products are marketed to businesses. For (a selection of) these products, the mobile networks of both Telefónica and Vodafone are utilized, whereby the products in the Vodafone network generally display a higher average price level than those of Telefónica. Private consumers comprise about 20% of the total business, and business guidelines for the subsidiaries mostly come from the company's central headquarters, meaning that most brands display a similarly structured tariff portfolio. As of 1 April 2014, all providers were introduced to a new tariff structure.
The Maintal subsidiary of Drillisch AG, IQ-optimize Software AG, operated under the name "IQ-work Software AG" until 29 May 2007, and primarily offers technical services for its parent company. To a lesser extent, the company offers similar services to other business clients. In addition to its technical services, IQ-optimize Software AG operates licenses for a "workflow management" software named "Mapito", which was developed in-house.
In September 2014, it became widely known that Drillisch was planning to either construct or acquire up to 600 storefronts from o2/E-Plus, in addition to its usage of 30% of the merger's network capacity. Since an interview on 22 January 2015, it became clear that these shops were slated to operate under the newly acquired brand name "Yourfone".
As of 1 April 2015, the operations of Eteleon AG and MS Mobile Services GmbH were transferred to Drillisch Telecom GmbH within the framework of an internal company restructure. Due to a merger agreement, Eteleon AG was merged into MSP Holding GmbH on 17 March 2015.Amtsgericht München Aktenzeichen: HRB 161593, bekannt gemacht am: 28. März 2015; Amtsgericht Hanau Aktenzeichen: HRB 92260, bekannt gemacht am: 31. März 2015Amtsgericht Hanau Aktenzeichen: HRB 91912, bekannt gemacht am: 31. März 2015 Yourfone will comprise the storefront premium brand of the company, while Smartmobil will comprise the online premium brand.
On 27 May 2015, it became known that Drillisch would acquire about 300 storefronts from Telefónica Germany. On 24 September 2015, the subsidiary Drillisch Telecom GmbH took on a legal status of a corporation and began to operate as Drillisch Online AG. On 28 December 2017, Heiko Hambücker, Head of Sales and Marketing at Drillisch Online AG, informed the public that the shops would be sold to Aptus, of which René Schuster was the CEO. On 18 July 2018, Drillisch Online AG took on the legal status of a limited-liability company and began to operate as Drillisch Online GmbH. On 23 October 2020, the subsidiary Mobile Ventures GmbH was merged into Drillisch Online GmbH.
Ownership structure As of 14 April 2022 the ownership structure of 1&1 was comprised as follows: + Shareholder structure (as of 31 December 2025)ShareShareholder 86.46%United Internet AG 13.40%Public float 4.51%Norman Rentrop 0.14%1&1 AG (own shares) 0.07%Management Board (S. D'Avis, A. Nava)
History
Founding and first years In 1957, Fernseh-Hugo Forster OHG was founded, a company whose main activities included the installation of main antenna splitters as well as of communications and surveillance equipment. In 1983, Die Drillisch-Vetriebs-und Servicegesellschaft Nachrichten Technik mbH was founded in Maintal. In 1985, its product line was expanded to include mobile telephones from C-Netz.
In 1989, telefax devices were introduced into the market. From 1991 onward, digital alarm systems for firefighters were also introduced to the market, as well as equipment for fire and rescue control centers.
In 1992, Fernseh-Forster Hugo Forster OHG was converted into Forster Kommunikationselektronik GmbH. Two years later, Drillisch Vetriebs-Serviceges. Nachrichtentechnik mbH & Co. KG was founded and began its operations as a service provider of mobile services for the D2 network. In 1997, Drillisch AG was founded by Hans Jochen Drillisch, Marc Brucherseifer, and Nico Forster. As a formerly legally independent business, the Drillisch Group arose as a subsidiary of Drillisch AG. As a service provider, the company, which at the time owned none of its own network infrastructure, purchased telephone units from network operator Mannesmann Mobilfunk on a large scale, bundled them in special tariff packages, and sold them to private consumers. In their former core business, the sale of mobile telephones, fax devices, and other accessories, the company earned about 48% of its total revenue of 117.5 million marks.
Initial public offering The former Drillisch AG had its initial public offering in 1998. A total of up to 600,000 ordinary shares were issued with a nominal value of five marks each (including Greenshoe options of 40,000 shares), from which 360,000 stemmed from an increase in the capital stock to nine million marks and 240,000 shares stemmed from the portfolios of existing shareholders.
In 1998, the company received a landline license. One year later, their offers expanded to include internet-by-call access services.
In 2000, their landline license was sold to Elisa, a Finnish telecommunications firm, and 1&1 reoriented itself towards mobile internet services in order to avoid bankruptcy. The company established the search engine Acoona for web and WAP services. The further expansion of internet content could be observed with the acquisition of Open-Net Oy, a Finnish WAP-programming and content-creation firm.
In 2001, Drillisch became available for sale.
On 16 February 2004, the company UMTS began to market products for D2 Vodafone via subsidiaries Alphatel GmbH and Victorvox AG. On 31 March 2005, the then-board spokesman, Marc Brucherseifer, resigned from leadership of his own volition. Since 2006, board spokesman Paschalis Choulidis planned to united Talkline and Debitel under the name Mobilcom-Debitel, both for tax reasons and due to an increasing saturation of the mobile-phone market.
In January 2007, Drillisch acquired competitor Telco Services GmbH from Idstein im Taunus, which had over 300,000 customers (10% prepaid) for an estimated purchase price of 40 to 50 million euros. On 19 December 2008, it became publicly known that Drillisch AG was in the process of becoming a majority shareholder of eteleon e-solutions AG, a firm specializing in internet-based marketing. The purchase contract of 71.54% was put into effect in March 2009. Since 16 August 2009, eteleon e-solutions AG (100% b2c.de GmbH; discoTEL, DeutschlandSIM, eteleon) became a full subsidiary of Drillisch AG.
Attempted takeover by Freenet mobile-communications division and its shareholdings by United Internet
On 22 August 2007, Drillisch announced that their share of 10.07% of competitor Freenet AG would increase to 28.56%. At the time, however, the purchase stood under review of antitrust authorities. In September 2007, Drillisch and United Internet presented to the public a collaborative plan for the acquisition of Freenet. With Holding MSP, Drillisch and United Internet controlled about 29% of Freenet AG. Holding MSP belonged to both companies equally.
In a quarterly report on 31 October 2007, Drillisch CEO Paschalis Choulidis first publicly expressed plans regarding the acquisition of Freenet's mobile-communications division (see Mobilcom). On 20 November 2007, United Internet announced that negotiations for the acquisition of Freenet had failed. By all accounts, Drillisch CEO Choulidis was surprised by this announcement and was only informed of such by a mandatory announcement released by United Internet.
At the end of November 2007, United Internet surprisingly purchased 5.15 million Drillisch shares, thus holding 9.68% of the company. On 14 December, Drillisch and United Internet announced the further increase of MSP Holding GmbH's ownership of Freenet to 20.05%.
On 20 December 2007, Freenet also declared the end of negotiations regarding the acquisition of its mobile-communications division by Drillisch.
In October 2009, United Internet sold its shares of Drillisch AG.
In 2013, Drillisch reduced its share of Freenet from 20.8% to 0.39% in two steps, first in March 2013 and then in October 2013.
On 27 April 2015, United Internet announced its acquisition of a total 20.7% of shares of Drillisch AG, thereby becoming the company's majority shareholder. On 26 May 2015, United Internet's intentions were approved by federal antitrust authorities without any stipulations.
Dispute and settlement regarding commission payments with Deutsche Telekom AG In November 2011, Deutsche Telekom canceled its cooperation with Drillisch AG and its subsidiaries without prior notice, as Drillisch subsidiary Simply had been accused of commission fraud with prepaid mobile contracts. According to statements by Manfred Balz from Telekom, since February 2011, Drillisch AG had activated tens of thousands of mobile connections without having any actual customers for them.
Telekom also filed criminal charges against the company. After these events became widely known, the stock prices for Drillisch AG quickly sank up to 44%.