Quote:
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The O2-T-Mobile domestic roaming agreement dates back to the days when O2's predecessor Viag Interkom was constructing their GSM 1800 network. Viag simply wasn't able to build out its network as widely like Vodafone, T-Mobile and E+ did. So they looked to expand their domestic coverage by working together with an established provider.
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This was a pretty unusual agreement at the time, and (as someone at Viag Interkom once explained to me) part of it had to do with a lawsuit between Viag and Deutsche Telekom that Viag seemed likely to win; Viag offered this as a solution. In other words, Telekom didn't do this willingly, and it wasn't the result of government effort to open up the market. (I don't remember the exact details of the suit offhand.)