Deutsche Telekom buys GTS Central Europe for 546 million euros FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Telekom (DTEGn.DE) on Sunday said it had bought GTS Central Europe for 546 million euros ($729 million) in a deal which hands the German telecom operator a fiber optic fixed-line and infrastructure business in Eastern Europe. GTS is a telecommunications service provider with network and data centre infrastructure, focused on serving business customers. Deutsche Telekom said it is acquiring GTS from a consortium of international private equity firms, including Columbia Capital, HarbourVest Partners, Innova Capital and M/C Partners. "We see Deutsche Telekom as the best partner for GTS and are excited about the benefits and opportunities this will create for our customers and employees," said GTS CEO Danny Bottoms. GTS owns and operates a fiber optic and data centre network throughout the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. It provides voice and data services to complex virtual private networks and cloud services. Deutsche Telekom said the Slovak assets will be retained by the current owners. The remaining parts of GTS Europe which it is acquiring had revenues of 347 million euros and earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortization of 87 million euros in 2012. ($1 = 0.7491 euros) Reporting by Edward Taylor; Editing by Janet Lawrence