Deutsche Telekom deal overcomes US security fears

NEWS The committee on foreign investment, which is a national security panel, finally approved the $24bn takeover after both companies came to an agreement with the Justice Department and the FBI that they would not interfere with wiretapping. Also US wireless provider VoiceStream is banned from providing US law enforcement information to the German government, which currently has a 58 per cent stake in Deutsche Telekom, dropping to about 45 per cent by the time the merger is completed. Both companies said yesterday they expect the deal to be finalised by the end of May.