Germany Favors Deutsche Telekom to Replace Ousted Verizon

Germany favors Deutsche Telekom to replace Verizon Communications as a network provider after deciding to end the American company’s contract in the wake of reports about spy surveillance by the US.

“The federal government wants to win back more technological sovereignty and therefore prefers to work with German companies,” Tobias Plate, an interior ministry spokesman, said.

Germany is using an option in the current Verizon contract to end the arrangement in 2015, Plate said, declining to confirm whether the government had any evidence that the provider handed information from the network to the US National Security Agency.