Ringing up big numbers out east

Europe's largest telecoms operators have a new ambition. Having lost monopolies at home, they now want to build networks that stretch across Europe all the way to Vladivostok. Charles Piggott reports on the telecoms battle for central and eastern Europe.

Deutsche Telekom’s ‘logical expansion’

A few months ago journalists quizzed Pat Gallagher, president of BT Europe, about the size of British Telecom’s war chest for eastern European expansion. They expected an answer in the billions. BT has already invested some €2.4 billion ($2.425 billion) in western Europe. Gallagher’s reply was more surprising than a multi-billion dollar figure. He explained that BT had “no investment constraints” at all to get into eastern Europe’s fast-growing telecom market.

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