Telekom, Ramstein strike deal

Continuing a long history of partnership, dating back more than 50 years, Deutsche Telekom and Ramstein Air Base renewed an agreement to continue providing commercial telephone service to Air Force units in the KMC.

The new agreement will translate into big savings for the Air Force.
When lower telephone rates take effect Oct. 1, a 19.4 percent reduction is expected on all off-base commercial toll charges.
It also includes new rates for cellular phones.

The agreement is the reward of many months of coordination and negotiation between the 835th Communications Squadron, 700th Contracting Squadron and Deutsch Telekom.

On Aug. 26, Col. Vincent C. Valdespino, commander of the 435th Communications Group, signed the agreement along with Herr Karlheinz Korz, the Deutsche Telekom representative.

“I’m very proud of the hard work put in by our commercial telephone experts in the communications group, particularly Frau Margit Koelsch,” said Colonel Valdespino.

“The dynamic coordination by Frau Koelsch, combined with outstanding support from our contracting experts at 700th CONS, and the willingness on the part of Deutsch Telekom to provide us the service we need at reduced rates, made this a successful effort,” he said.

Units should start to see the benefits of the lower rates in the coming fiscal year, provided they ensure that all telephone calls, for both land lines and cellular telephones, are limited to official use only.

For further details, contact the 835th Communications Squad-ron at 480-5596.