Deutsche Telekom Wins Watchdog Approval for Faster Web

Deutsche Telekom AG, Germany’s largest phone company, won permission to offer speedier Web access in most urban areas on existing copper lines, giving it a cheaper way to take on cable providers.

The Bonn-based carrier may deny rivals access to its street-side cabinets -- a precondition for installing the so- called DSL vectoring technology -- under certain conditions, Germany’s Federal Network Agency said in an e-mailed draft ruling. Such a move is allowed, for instance, in areas where customers can choose an alternative fixed-line network, the watchdog said. “The driving idea behind the decision is to allow vectoring for all market participants and thus drive forward the broadband rollout,” Jochen Homann, the agency’s president, said in the statement. “The open access approach ensures that no monopolies may arise in certain areas: neither for Deutsche Telekom nor its competitors.”