LOSS OF MONOPOLY BEGINS TO BITE AT DEUTSCHE TELEKOM

Deutsche Telekom has begun since January to feel the effects of the liberalisation of the national telecommunications market, which has boosted traffic but has also forced the company to cut tariffs and pursue litigation on a number of fronts, facts reflected in the operator's half-yearly results published on July 28. By reducing costs, the world's third telecommunications operator has succeeded in increasing net profits by 18% to DM1.95 billion (USD1.08 billion). This figure is however provisional and bereft of any detail, with the semi-public company, employing a workforce of 186,500, refusing to make any forecasts for 1998 as a whole. A more eloquent figure is that...