Space station to move to avoid debris

BERLIN - Agence France-Presse

Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka is seen on a screen at Russian Mission Control Center in Korolev outside Moscow, Russia, 20 August 2012 during his spacewalk to install additional anti-meteorite panels at the International Space Station (ISS). EPA/YURI KOCHETKOV

Telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom said on Tuesday it was in talks with US wireless provider MetroPCS over a possible tie-up with German firm's US subsidiary T-Mobile USA.
 
"Deutsche Telekom is holding talks with the listed company MetroPCS with the aim of operating its subsidiary T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS within one company in which Deutsche Telekom would hold the majority of shares," said the firm.
 
"The talks are at a stage where significant issues have not yet been finalised, contracts have not been signed and the conclusion of the transaction is still not certain," warned Deutsche Telekom.
 
Acquired at the height of the dot-com boom for 40 billion euros ($52 billion), T-Mobile USA has proved a drag on Deutsche Telekom's business.

Deutsche Telekom planned to sell the subsidiary last year to AT&T but the $39-billion deal fell through after US regulators said it would reduce competition in the wireless services industry.
 
Rumours of the proposed tie-up between T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS already boosted Deutsche Telekom shares on Tuesday as they finished the trading session with a gain of 1.31 percent on the German DAX market.
 
Texas-based MetroPCS, formerly called General Wireless, bills itself as the fifth-biggest mobile operator in the United States and had a client base of 9.3 million at the end of June.