Germany's Deutsche Telekom is not planning to make a counterbid for O2, the company's finance chief said today.
"Deutsche Telekom will not make a counterbid for O2. This would not be in the interests of our shareholders," Karl-Gerhard Eick said.
Spanish telecoms firm Telefonica launched an agreed €25.9 billion cash deal to buy O2, prompting market talk that cash-rich Deutsche Telekom might launch a counter-bid.
Meanwhile, Deutsche Telekom has announced that it plans to cut 32,000 staff in Germany by the end of 2008 - almost a fifth of its German workforce.
The company has refused to say how much it expects to save through the job cuts, but confirmed that the losses will cost it around €3.3 billion euro.
"The tough competitive environment in the fixed network and broadband sector in Germany imposed by the regulatory situation intensify the challenges facing the entire Deutsche Telekom group," Deutsche Telekom said in a statement.
The company plans to spend €3 billion on building a new German fibre-optic network fast enough to broadcast high-definition television over the Internet, in a bid to compensate for declining sales and profit in its fixed-line business.