France Telecom buys Global One for $3.9bn

NEWS France Telecom is to become the sole owner of Global One in a $3.9bn deal. The French telco is to buy the remaining 71 per cent stake in the joint venture owned by Deutsche Telekom and Sprint. Deutsche Telekom will receive $2.8bn in cash and $188m in debt while the US operator, which is due to merge with MCI WorldCom, will receive $1.1bn in cash and $276m in debt. The four-year-old venture was formed to provide voice and data services to multinational companies, and currently serves 30,000 customers including Coca-Cola and Unilever. However, since its inception, the venture hasn't perform to expectations, and relations between the three parties became strained when Deutsche Telekom entered a bid for Telecom Italia last year. France Telecom is confident that with full control, it will be positioned as a prominent global provider of worldwide services to multinationals and carriers.