Telekom Looks Abroad

BONN -- Deutsche Bundespost Telekom, Europe's biggest phone company, on Monday said it is seeking a global mobile-phone alliance to become a major player in the market for international personal mobile communications. Lothar Hunsel, chairman of Telekom's mobile-phone unit, DeTeMobil GmbH, said that by the end of the decade the company would more than double its turnover and become one of the world's top five mobile-phone companies. "We will need around three years to establish ourselves as a truly global player," he said. "The dynamic market situation won't allow us much more time and we will need to form a global alliance." DeTeMobil, with more than 95 percent of its business in Germany, expects turnover to rise around 25 percent this year to just under 4 billion Deutsche marks ($2.5 billion) and to expand its foreign operations. The company will unveil a digital mobile-phone network for the greater Moscow region later this week, which it will add to four other digital licenses and one analog license in Russia. It is seeking further mobile-phone licenses in Eastern and Western Europe and is studying "around 20 options" in Asia.