OTE, Vodafone Say Greek Phone Merger Needed to Prevent Failure

Deutsche Telekom AG and Vodafone Group Plc, having lost a combined $6.4 billion from their investments in Greece, are now pushing regulators to let mobile-phone companies merge to stay profitable as the country heads for a fifth year of recession.

More than two months since Vodafone started talks about a potential combination of its Greek unit with Wind Hellas Telecommunications SA, the companies have yet to reach an accord that can be put to regulators for approval. A merger of the wireless operators, Greece’s second- and third-largest, would create a duopoly with market leader Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA, or OTE, which is 40 percent owned by Deutsche Telekom.