Telekom blues

Among the many issues raised at Deutsche Telekom's annual general meeting (AGM) in Cologne, none was more frustrating than the one addressed by Klaus Kaldemorgen, head of the investment company DWS.

"Let's say it openly - the capital providers of this company, the shareholders, have suffered heavy losses over the years," he said on Monday. In the first four months of this year alone, shares in the telecommunications giant dropped by four percent, and were worth just over 9 euros ($11.90) on Tuesday morning.

"We have to accept the fact that it would be massive achievement if the management could raise the stock's value to 13 or 15 euros," said Lars Labryga of the shareholders protection association SdK. But this is not enough for Marc Tuengler of the protection association DSW: "We want at least 20 euros!" he demanded.

T-Mobile USA struggles

The company's US subsidiary T-Mobile USA if of particular concern for the shareholders. According to Kaldemorgen, investors are worried that its profits will continue to worsen and fear that the company lacks a reliable business model capable of coping with "free-rider" companies like Apple and Google, which use Telekom's infrastructure.

Deutsche Telekom chief Rene Obermann said he intends to invest a further three billion dollars in the US mobile network to equip it for higher volumes of data traffic. "We know we have problems there," Obermann said as he reiterated his belief in the strength of the US market.

Obermann was similarly bullish on the plight of Deutsche Telekom's operations in Greece. "We fully stand behind our Greek commitments," he said.

Zumwinkel affair lingers

Telekom shareholders also voted to put off the formal approval of actions taken by Klaus Zumwinkel, the former head of the board of directors, in 2008.

Zumwinkel and Ricke were alleged to have obtained and checked the telephone data of up to 60 people, including works council members, board directors, and journalists, in 2005 and 2006. State prosecutors investigated the extent to which Zumwinkel and Ricke may have been complicit in the illegal spying, which caused a storm of outrage in the media, but insufficient evidence was found to convict either after a key witness denied previous statements and invoked his confidentiality agreement.

State prosecutors in Bonn recently announced the closure of their investigations into Zumwinkel and former company chief Kai-Uwe Ricke, but shareholders apparently decided to delay a final decision until the publication of the investigation's findings. Shareholders had already decided to delay the formal approval last year.

In a separate case, Zumwinkel was convicted of tax evasion in January 2009, when he served as the head of mail operator Deutsche Post.

bk/dpa/Reuters
Editor: Sam Edmonds