FRANKFURT, GERMANY: Germany's largest software company, SAP AG, plans to raise licensing fees for thousands of clients who use older versions of its software, German weekly Wirtschaftswoche reported on Saturday.

"SAP's older customers will be especially affected -- that means the most loyal," Andreas Oczko, deputy head of the German SAP client advocacy group DSAG told the magazine.

The magazine said older clients who do not switch to newer versions of software applications or have not switched to a new incremental price structure will see the largest cost changes.

Commenting on the new price structure an SAP spokesman told the magazine: "The price increases concern single accounts and therefore are a mixture of price reductions and also, in part, price increases."

Software licensing and maintenance fees accounted for around 70 percent of SAP total revenues last year.