A report in the Thursday edition of the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung said that T-Online, Europe's leading provider of Internet access, was considering buying rival AOL for just over one billion dollars.
The newspaper quoted T-Online sources as saying that the chairmen of the two groups had already met on the instigation of Thomas Middelhoff, former chairman of German media giant Bertelsmann, which itself formerly held a stake in AOL Europe.
Quizzed about the report at the news conference, Deutsche Telekom chairamn Ricke refused to comment.
"We don't comment about that sort of thing," he said.
Sueddeutsche Zeitung said T-Online was eyeing a 70-percent stake in AOL for just over one billion dollars, giving it a foothold in the US market.
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