The first 20,000 customers to sign up to the new package will get access to all the Bundesliga soccer games for free for the whole of the current season, which has just kicked off, while any customers adding the service before October 31 will get three months of soccer free. The standard price to add Bundesliga soccer games to the basic package is €9.99 ($13.61) per month.

    There are two main reasons why DT needs to up its game in the triple play services market. First, it's not the only carrier with a triple play offer -- Telecom Italia SpA (NYSE: TI - message board) subsidiary HanseNet Telekommunikation GmbH launched its IPTV service before DT and aims to have 100,000 triple play customers by the end of this year. (See DT Rival Launches IPTV .)

    Second, DT needs new services and attractive packages to retain fixed line customers, who are deserting the company in droves -- the carrier counted 37.7 million access line customers in Germany at the end of the second quarter this year, 2.4 million down from a year earlier. (See Scorecard: DT's Struggles Continue.)

    DT says it will complete its access network upgrade by the end of the year, by which time 27 cities will have VDSL2 gear, providing downstream speeds of up to 50 Mbit/s and access to high definition (HD) content, and another 750 towns and cities will be kitted out with ADSL2+ capabilities (up to 16 Mbit/s).

    Once that upgrade is complete, 17 million German households, half of the country's total, will be able to sign up to the IPTV service, which is delivered using technology from Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT - message board). (See Microsoft Wins IPTV Deal at DT.)

    Currently, about 15 million households can get the IPTV service.