Carphone eyeing German services move with Hutchison buy?

NEWS Carphone Warehouse is widely reported to be poised to snap up the German arm of Hutchison Telecoms to boost its own ailing handset-only operation in Germany. The deal will bring in 650,000 customers - worth up to £40m - in Europe’s largest mobile market and allow Carphone to apply its UK business model, combining services and retail sales, according to the FT and others. And the move could provide the company with a secure base in the long-predicted shakeout of the German mobile market, which is dominated by Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone. Although Carphone had reduced losses in its German retail operation and was moving towards breaking even, it had indicated that it would pull out unless it could find some way of moving into the services market with its recurring revenues. A Carphone spokesman would say only that the company would clarify the situation of its German operations when it announces its annual results tomorrow. Conglomerate Hutchison is involved in a massive push to launch its ‘3’ third-generation service in the UK and last week engaged in a reshuffle of senior management which left two ex-Orange men in charge: Bob Fuller as CEO and Gareth Jones as COO.