speaking world, last surprised the market in March with a bigger-than-expected $3.57 billion bid for Czech carrier Cesky Telecom. But when Europe's top former telecoms monopoly Deutsche Telekom teamed up with Dutch peer KPN for an aborted O2 bid in August, and France Telecom clinched 80 percent of Spain's third-ranked mobile group Amena, analysts said Telefonica risked being squeezed out of the European arena. On Monday, investor hopes were high that Deutsche Telekom -- which had been hoping to fold its struggling T-Mobile UK cell phone business into O2's stronger-performing British arm -- would raise its hand and counter-bid. "Do I think someone else will come to the table? Absolutely," said Deutsche Bank analyst Gareth Jenkins, adding that Deutsche Telekom could pay more than 200p a share with a cash-and-share bid. A Frankfurt-based dealer tipped the chances of a Deutsche Telekom counterbid at 50 percent. KPN, which also saw its solo bid for O2 spurned last year, remained adamant it had no plans to rekindle negotiations. "We made a bid a while ago but it was refused because of the price and that's it... We are not planning a counter-bid," a KPN spokesman said. Deutsche Telekom declined to comment.
