Deutsche Telekom wary of Greek regulations
Deutsche Telekom spearheaded German pressure on the Greek government for changes to its regulatory system when its chief financial officer questioned on Thursday whether the major stakeholder in OTE telecom should get any further involved in the corporation.
?We must verify if investments in Greece are worth it,? Timotheus Hoettges told a press conference in Germany, as DT is examining whether it should buy a further 6 percent stake held by the state in OTE.
DT chief executive officer Rene Obermann added that he would examine any offer from Athens ?very closely? and ?critically,? suggesting that the Greek telecoms regulator had taken ?incomprehensible? decisions that were ?hostile to any investment.?
The German comments came at a time when OTE?s second-quarter results are far from exciting for its owners. First-half profits reached 92.4 million euros, against just 5 million last year, but this was due to the extraordinary levy paid to the government in the second quarter of 2010. First-half revenues declined by 10 percent to 2.5 billion euros.
