EU to fight US congress over DT VoiceStream bid

NEWS The European Union has said it may take the US congress to court if it tries to block Deutsche Telekom (DT)'s $50.7bn takeover of US wireless telecoms operator VoiceStream wireless. An EU spokesman told Reuters that legislation being proposed by Senator Fritz Hollings to ban the takeover on the basis that DT is owned in part by a foreign government, is against a 1997 World Trade Organisation telecoms agreement. A number of US senators have, given their backing to Hollings and voiced their concerns that because the German government owns 58 per cent of the telco, it poses a national security risk and could be detrimental to domestic competition.