Vodafone reaffirms wish to completely own Arcor

Telecompaper reports that CEO of Vodafone Germany, Friedrich Joussen, has told the CeBIT trade show that his company wishes to purchase the 26% of German wireline provider Arcor that it does not already own. Deutsche Bahn currently owns 18% and Deutsche Bank 8%. Joussen said the sentiment amongst the shareholders supports the acquisition, although he declined to give a timetable. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, Arcor ended 2006 with just under 1.5 million fixed line customers and an estimated 1.8 million broadband subscribers in Germany. Vodafone’s desire to acquire 100% of Arcor was first reported in April 2006 and has surfaced on several occasions since.