GERMAN telephone group Deutsche Telekom has emerged as the most likely candidate to take over Mercury Communications if its parent company Cable & Wireless merges with British archrival BT. Mercury, Britain's second largest operator, is certain to be sold off, along with the Mercury One 2 One mobile phone network, to satisfy British government competition rules if BT and C&W merge. It is understood that BT is keen to expand into Germany and a deal with Deutsche Telekom over Mercury could be part of an informal agreement with the German company to allow BT to enter the market more quickly.