Although he admits that the phone company’s present structure made it impossible for France Telecom to do a deal like the one British Telecommunications Plc has done with MCI Communications Corp, Gerard Longuet, French industry and telecommunications minister can’t quite bring himself to accept the idea of privatising the company: France Telecom has a natural continental partner which is Deutsche Bundespost Telekom, but it should also build international partnerships – I think it needs to find an American ally, he told Les Echos; It was a failure to have missed MCI, with which Telekom and France Telecom were negotiating; Longuet said neither, as state entities, could offer MCI a capital injection the way BT could, and he is now reviewing France Telecom’s legal status.