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Deutsche Telekom says finds no evidence of NSA, GCHQ surveillance

The logo of Deutsche Telekom is pictured on the 266 metre high "Colonia" TV tower in the western German city of Cologne March 25, 2013. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

BERLIN (Reuters) - Deutsche Telekom said it had found no indication that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and Britain's GCHQ had obtained access to its computer network, but said it was investigating the matter following a report in Sunday's Der Spiegel magazine.

"We are looking into every indication of possible manipulations but have not yet found any hint of that in our investigations so far," a Telekom spokesman said in a statement on Sunday. "We're working closely with IT specialists and have also contacted German security authorities.

"It would be completely unacceptable if a foreign intelligence agency were to gain access to our network," the spokesman added.

Der Spiegel said it had seen information suggesting the NSA and GCHQ had gained access to the networks of Deutsche Telekom and smaller German provider Netcologne.

Relations between the United States and Germany were hit last year by revelations from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden that Washington spied on German officials and bugged the phone of Chancellor Angela Merkel.


(Reporting by Harro Ten Wolde; Writing by Erik Kirschbaum; Editing by David Holmes)