Deutsche Telekom is understood to be considering two major deals that would further strengthen its position in Central and Eastern Europe.
According to a report in WSJ, one of the transactions would see it buy GTS Central Europe for around €600 million. Based in Warsaw, the company is an infrastructure based telco provider and currently lists several financial investors, including Columbia Capital, M/C Venture Partners and Innova Capital, among its owners.
Telekom may also be in the market to buy the outstanding 40% stake of its T-Mobile Czech Republic unit that was recently put up for sale by Mid Europa Partners (MEP).
Although the report says that Telekom would prefer another financial investor to assume the 40% stake, Broadband TV News believes it is significant that the telco has been linked with a MEP asset in the region.
It has already been reported that MEP may be interested in disposing of some of its assets, which include Serbia Broadband (SBB), the leading cable operator in Serbia and pan-regional DTH platform Total TV.
For its part, Telekom already has a strong presence in several CEE markets including Hungary (Magyar Telekom), Slovakia (Telekom Slovakia) and Romania (Romtelecom, via OTE) and is a leading provider of pay-TV services.
