MUNICH, Germany, July 15 (Reuters) - Germany's DeutscheTelekom is keeping its options open as to whether itfloats or sells EE, its joint venture with French rival Orange, an executive said on Monday.
"We are open to both possibilities," Claudia Nemat, boardmember in charge of Deutsche Telekom's European business, toldReuters on the sidelines of a conference in Munich, saying thata decision would be made by 2014.
Deutsche Telekom has valued EE, Britain's largest mobileoperator, at 10 billion pounds ($15.1 billion) and haspreviously said a partial listing of the business was thepreferred option.
However, financial investors like KKR and CVC have sounded out banks to raise money for a possiblebid and U.S. telecoms company AT&T is also reported to beinterested.
Nemat declined to comment on potential buyers.
EE, formerly known as Everything Everywhere, has more than27 million customers and competes with Telefonica's 02 brand, Vodafone, and Hutchison's 3 brand.