Deutsche Telekom

dahamsta

I can't call Alfie Kane any names for fear of one of Ireland's famous libel/slander lawsuits - even in the face of such damning evidence - so I'll leave you lot to do it for me:

The Irish Times reports that Eircom was within days of being sold to Deutsche Telekom last year until the German company's shares fell. The price at which the sale was originally negotiated would have been at a significant premium to the then Eircom share price of around EUR3.50, and not far off the flotation price of EUR3.90, according to Alfie Kane. Kane is adamant that walking away from the Deutsche deal was the correct decision because of the fall in the value of its stock.

Please keep the swearing and threats to a minimum. Oh, and by the way, Elana was in the same building as dear Alfie the other night - Alfie's a lucky boy Elana didn't know about this at the time. And he's lucky I'm nowhere near him now.

adam

Occidental

Ah, dear old Alfie, a man you wouldn't let manage your kids piggy bank.

Boston

I have been better off not knowing, in the hands of DT eircom would have maybe been a nice telephone comapny to deal with.

dahamsta

Originally posted by «Bo§ton»
I have been better off not knowing, in the hands of DT eircom would have maybe been a nice telephone comapny to deal with.

I think I probably speak for most when I say: Huh?

adam

Boston

Just saying that, DT are really pretty ok, compared to the likes of ntl or BT, and that if the owned eircom, i might actually be happy with eircom.

rardagh

In Germany too, disheartening as it may be, the regulator has the same lack of powers and the incumbent has the same tactics - Do you really think DT behavoiur would have been any better; Deny, Delay and Degrade???

RegTP asks for more legal power
By Reuters staff

07 December 2001

The president of German telecoms regulator RegTP said on Thursday the authority of the office was being undermined by repeated appeals in the courts against its decisions by former monopolist Deutsche Telekom AG.

Matthias Kurth called on the government to give the regulator the power to impose quicker decisions and to limit the scope for appeals against its rulings.

"We can't get through with the quick decisions that were intended by the legislator because we face a host of legal challenges in the courts," Kurth said at a news conference to present RegTP's biannual report to parliament.

"Our instruments of control based on the current telecommunication law are too slow in that regard," Kurth said.

A restriction on Telekom's legal rights to challenge RegTP's decisions was backed by Martin Hellwig, president of the monopoly commission, a government-appointed body advising on competition issues.

"The delaying tactics are a prime element in hampering competition," Hellwig said. "Time and again, Telekom succeeds in continuing a misuse of market power that way."

Deutsche Telekom rejected the charge, saying it was within its rights to challenge administrative rulings.

"We live in a state based on the rule of law and you can't tell anybody that it's wrong to challenge decisions in the courts," Deutsche Telekom spokesman Ulrich Lissek said.

Economics minister Werner Mueller welcomed the report by RegTP and a separate report by the monopoly commission.

"On an initial estimation, the reports make an important contribution with their very differentiated discussion of the market situation hitherto and their constructive suggestions for changes to the regulatory framework," he said in a statement.

Two weeks ago, Kurth threatened to reopen an investigation against Telekom's tariffs for high-speed DSL Internet access on the grounds that Telekom delayed making the connections available to its rivals.

Kurth said he expected the German telecoms market to grow to 155 billion marks in 2001, 15 percent more than last year.

dahamsta

Just saying that, DT are really pretty ok, compared to the likes of ntl or BT, and that if the owned eircom, i might actually be happy with eircom.

Ah, I see. Well, they're really not ok Boston. Of the major European telco's, they're actually the one that's most like Eircom. The only reason Germany has gotten past the whole flat-rate and broadband thing is that they're bigger and the government and regulator got tough with them. As rardagh says, the German regulator is pretty toothless too, but they dealt with it and positively hammered DT on some things. Do a search on The Reg for DT and you'll find some articles about it.

adam

dahamsta

My last post may seem to go againt my orginal point, but it doesn't really. DT has gotten past this whole "not viable" thing, and they've realised that if the price of broadband is fair, they'll get more business. I don't think they'd be the *best* owner of Eircom, but I do believe they'd be a far better owner than TOR and his cronies.

adam

Boston

Is DT not in holland, ive a cousin out there that mentioned them to me, said he pays like 30 pounds a month for a great 1mb adsl link.

dahamsta

They'll all over the shop Boston, they're one of the biggest telco's in the world. The good pricing and bandwidth is a competition thing though.

adam

b20uvkft6m5xwg

All in favour of NOT blaming Alfie Kane.....