Case Study: Deutsche Telekom and "Schools Online" (SaN). Connecting German Schools to the internet

Lexis, Ulrike and Hassel, Anke (2006) Case Study: Deutsche Telekom and "Schools Online" (SaN). Connecting German Schools to the internet. UNSPECIFIED.

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Abstract

The CEO of Deutsche Telekom, Ron Sommer, and Jürgen Rüttgers, current prime minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, founded “schools online” (in German: “Schulen ans Netz”, and short: SaN) in 1996 with the goal of connecting German schools to the internet. In his opening speech, Ron Sommer said the commitment of Deutsche Telekom was made on the grounds of its responsibility towards society. Deutsche Telekom wanted to display good corporate citizenship in an area that was close to its business and expertise. He also claimed the money spent was an investment into the future rather than a sponsoring activity. An early employee, Nikolaus Huss, responsible for public relations at SaN said: “There never was any clear indication as to what the goal was. It was never really made clear whether there was more to it than corporate citizenship. It was understood among us that somehow Telekom felt responsible for electronic alphabetisation and on the other hand was sure to profit from this later on, although nobody really felt it necessary to plan the future outcome.”

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