OREANDA-NEWS. Deutsche Telekom obtained today the required merger control clearance from the European Commission for the acquisition of GTS Central Europe (“GTS”). The acquisition was announced in November 2013 and has now been cleared without conditions. The transaction will close in the coming weeks.

"We are pleased that we can now close the transaction and start the integration of GTS. It fits perfectly into our strategy of building a pan-European network and strengthens our position with business and multinational customers. Moreover, it will enable us to offer all of our wholesale customers competitive, high-quality services," commented Claudia Nemat, Board member for Europe and Technology at Deutsche Telekom.

"This decision eases any concerns customers and employees may have had. We will of course keep them informed in the coming weeks about the next steps regarding the integration. We are absolutely certain this union will add value to everyone involved," said Danny Bottoms, CEO of GTS.

GTS is one of the top infrastructure-based telecommunications service providers in Central and Eastern Europe including a strong portfolio of services focused on business customers. In 2013, GTS achieved revenues of EUR 337 million and EBITDA of EUR 88 million pro-forma excluding the Slovak assets, which will be retained by the sellers as part of the transaction.