T-Mobile Could Acquire Austria's Tele.ring Soon - Sources

FRANKFURT -(Dow Jones)- A takeover of the Austrian mobile network provider Tele.ring by Deutsche Telekom's (DT) subsidiary, T-Mobile AG (TMO.YY), could happen as early as this week, people familiar with the matter told Dow Jones Newswires Monday.

The topic of a potential Tele.ring acquisition is on the agenda for T-Mobile's supervisory board meeting Thursday, one person said.

According to analysts, the takeover, which is expected to cost around EUR1.3 billion, would allow T-Mobile to increase its customer numbers, and possibly overtake the Austrian market leader, Mobilkom Austria, owned by Telekom Austria AG (TKA).

T-Mobile currently has just over 2 million customers in Austria, compared with Tele.ring's 1 million, and Mobilkom Austria's 3.3 million customers.

The companies declined to comment.

Company Web site: http://www.telekom3.de

-By Philipp Grontzki and Stefan Mechnig, Dow Jones Newswires; +49 211 138 72 18; duesseldorf.de@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires"

Posted to the site on 1st August 2005