DT and NetCologne forced to scrap cooperation plans

Deutsche Telekom (DT) and regional telco NetCologne have been forced to cancel their plans to use each other’s high speed broadband network infrastructure. The two companies signed an agreement in January under which DT would have used NetCologne’s fibre-optic network in return for which NetCologne would have rented access to DT’s VDSL infrastructure. However, on Tuesday German regulator the Bundesnetzagentur ruled that the agreement would negatively impact the competitive capability of rival telcos. DT has hit out against the decision, saying it sends a bad signal to the market by preventing companies from cooperating over expensive network deployments.