Deutsche Telekom moves in on doomed London telco

NEWS Deutsche Telekom is poised to purchase struggling London-based telecom, iaxis, which has gone into administration with debts amounting to $200m. According to Ray Dutton, founder of iaxis, the German telco will step in and buy the doomed pan-European telecoms operator for far less than the projected $1bn it planned to float for last year. Reports on Reuters said Dutton, who left the board of iaxis at the end of 1999, still holds a 27 per cent stake in the company. Money owed to Ciena and Nortel, who supplied equipment to the failed venture, acount for more than $50m of the debts.