Deutsche Telekom plans new packages after internet cap blocked

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Telekom plans to repackage its internet offering rather than appeal against an October court ruling that blocked it from capping connection speeds when customers exceed data limits on flat-rate contracts. After announcing its decision not to launch an appeal, the former German monopoly said on Monday that it will introduce new deals with flat rates or fixed data volumes. The telecoms operator's head of German operations, Niek Jan van Damme, told reporters that the company aims to be more transparent, adding: "We want to win back customer confidence we have lost." Public outrage this year prompted Deutsche Telekom to water down plans to cap data speeds over fixed broadband lines. It had said that, from 2016, customers who sign up for flat-rate internet deals and who exceed their monthly data download limit would see their surfing speed capped at 2 megabits per second (Mbit/s). The Cologne district court ruled in favor of the consumer lobby group Verbraucherzentrale NRW, which had brought the case to court. Deutsche Telekom's Van Damme declined to indicate how much customers will have to pay for the new packages, but he said that the new flat-rate packages would be more expensive than the contracts with fixed data volumes. He added that it is unlikely that the new tariffs would be introduced in the next 12 months. (Reporting by Harro ten Wolde; Editing by David Goodman)