WARSAW, Sept 1 (AFP) - German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom has agreed with French firm Vivendi Universal and Polish energy group Elektrim to buy Poland's biggest mobile phone group PTC, the Rzeczpospolita daily reported Wednesday.
Quoting well-informed sources, the newspaper said Deutsche Telekom, which already owns 49 percent of PTC, had reached a provisional deal to pay 1.3 billion euros for the remaining 51 percent, held by Elektrim Telekomunikacja (ET), itself a joint venture between Vivendi and Elektrim.
Europe's number one telecoms group had already tried to buy out PTC's other shareholders late last year, but a deal fell part mainly because of disagreements on how to pay off debt owed by Elektrim Telekomunikacja.
Contacted by AFP, Elektrim spokeswoman Ewa Bojar declined to comment on the report.
According to Rzeczpospolita, the deal is still subject to the agreement of Elektrim creditors, who are owed 436 million euros and had scuttled an offer of 1.1 billion euros from Deutsche Telekom last autumn.
PTC, the leading Polish mobile phone operator has 8.5 million subscribers.