German consolidation

Big doings in Germany today, and more pressure for DT (beyond what shareholders may already be applying - the company's business plan shows 10-year dividend CAGR of only 9.4%, I was forecasting 14%, and their turnover and EBITDA projections are considerably more optimistic than mine).

Leading web portal Web.de and United Internet, the market's most aggressive alternative DSL player, have agreed an alliance and partial merger. The combined portal business should have considerably larger reach than T-Online itself, and the EUR200m cash injection into Web.de will fuel a more aggressive investment in internet telephony. I had Web.de in my model portfolio last year as a consolidation candidate. Nice to be right, but the timing was suspect...