'Fortune': DT. VoiceStream Pay $5.9B for Powertel
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Deutsche Telekom's spending spree continues; together with its partner VoiceStream, it's buying Georgia- based cell-phone company Powertel for almost $6 billion.</s>DAVID HAFFENREFFER, CNN ANCHOR: "Fortune" magazine's Janet Guyon has now more for us from -- live from London. And, Janet, what does Deutsche Telekom want with Powertel?</s>JANET GUYON, LONDON BUREAU CHIEF, "FORTUNE": Well, David, Powertel really fills out the national footprint of VoiceStream. With this transaction, they'll get access to the Southeast of the U.S., Deutsche Telekom and VoiceStream will cover 88 percent of the U.S. So it will give them almost a national footprint, not quite, and that will make Deutsche Telekom one of four companies in the U.S. that has a national footprint, with AT&T; Wireless, Verizon Wireless and Sprint PCS. So it really just kind of fills out the map, so to speak.</s>HAFFENREFFER: Any idea where Deutsche might be headed next? There always seems to be speculation about this company.</s>GUYON: Yes, there does, but it looks to me as though they are, at the moment, pursuing a global wireless strategy. They have bought up some licenses in Europe; they've got these companies now in the U.S. It's actually a very good -- strategically, a very good deal because the technology of VoiceStream and Powertel is compatible with the technology in Europe, this is this GSM technology. So Deutsche Telekom will be able to offer corporate customers, in particular, global -- you know, global phones, global roaming; those phones already exist. This is the kind of thing that a lot of the wireless companies are talking about, but really will not be able to implement until third generation, the next level of wireless technology, is put into place.</s>ROMANS: OK. Janet Guyon, in London, thank you.