tele.ring strike averted

A threatened strike by staff at the Austrian cellular operator tele.ring has been called off following assurances from the firm’s current owner that the telco will not be split up if it is sold to Germany’s T-Mobile. Western Wireless International has put tele.ring up for sale, and T-Mobile, which has its own operations in Austria, has emerged as the most likely buyer with a reported bid of USD1.6 billion. tele.ring’s staff council sent an open letter to Western Wireless threatening a strike if negotiations with the German cellular operator were not called off. However, Dow Jones reports that the council has now “decided against a strike” after receiving “guarantees from Western Wireless”. Although the exact nature of the guarantees has not been disclosed, it is thought that assurances have been given that tele.ring will stay intact following any sale.