The Deutsche Bundespost Telekom intends to defy the German government mandate to lower its telephone tariffs in 1996, according to Postal Minister Wolfgang Boetsch: documents prepared for Telekom’s supervisory board meeting held yesterday showed that it planned to delay the rate cut until 1997, Reuter reports from Bonn; the defiance in face of the government’s efforts to lower prices by liberalising the German telecommunications market would be brought before the cabinet, Boetsch said; Telekom has made any lowering of charges dependent on privatisation, but Boetsch argues that even without privatisation liberalisation of European telecommunications markets would happen in 1998.
