The German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom said yesterday that it had decided to postpone the planned flotation of its mobile telephony unit, T-Mobile International, in the wake of the acquisition of the US mobile phone operator VoiceStream.

"The management board has decided to reschedule preparations for the initial public offering (IPO) of T-Mobile International," Deutsche Telekom said in a statement.

"The original plan was for trading in T-Mobile shares to begin in autumn. A final decision on the IPO has not yet been taken."

The purchase of VoiceStream, announced on July 24th, "makes the task of preparing the necessary listing prospectuses considerably more complex," Deutsche Telekom explained.

The announcement marks a U-turn by Deutsche Telekom on the flotation plans.