Deutsche Telekom is immersed in a deepening espionage scandal following allegations that senior executives ordered the covert monitoring of thousands of phone calls by customers, staff and journalists in an attempt to plug an information leak.
The claims, published in Der Spiegel magazine, allege that the company, part-owned by the government, conducted its spying operations for 18 months in 2005 and 2006. "Hundreds of thousands of calls" were said to have been secretly subjected to surveillance.
