The Vebacom GmbH joint venture of Veba AG and Cable & Wireless Plc, wants to raise its stake in the E-Plus cellular network to up to 50%, it said: Veba currently owns 37.5% of E-Plus, Germany’s third system, along with Thyssen AG, BellSouth Corp and Vodafone Group Plc. Under the terms of the co-operation deal with Cable & Wireless and RWE AG, Vebacom will contribute its equity in E-Plus to a joint venture between the three companies. Vebacom expects to break even at around the turn of the century, and investments with its two partners should reach $5.85bn by 2005. It added that plans for co-operation in digital pay television with retailer Metro AG were not ruled out.
