Deutsche Telekom, Europe's biggest telecoms operator, has rallied to the defence of its embattled chief executive Ron Sommer.

The debt-laden company has published figures intended to show it is reviving its fortunes.

If Sommer pulls this one off, it will be a tremendous Houdini act

Source close to Deutsche Telekom

And advertisements have appeared in German national newspapers featuring an open letter of support from company employees, paid for by Deutsche Telekom.

The defence of Mr Sommer comes amid strong signs that the German government - Deutsche Telekom's biggest shareholder - is preparing to ditch him ahead of September's general election.

No support

Mr Sommer has faced heavy criticism for overseeing a huge build-up in the company's debt and a slump in the share price to a level below which millions of Germans bought into the company.

Three million Germans bought Telekom shares at privatisation, and the company's plunging share price has become an election issue.

The government has not publicly supported Mr Sommer in recent days and reports say it now views him as an electoral liability and has drawn up a shortlist of candidates to replace him.

Possible successors

Michael Frenzel - TUI Klaus Mangold - DaimlerChrysler Gerhard Cromme - ThyssenKrupp Juergen Dormann - Aventis Ferdinand Piech - former VW boss Werner Mueller - economy minister Wendelin Wiedeking - Porsche Klaus Esser - former Mannesmann boss

"If Sommer pulls this one off, it will be a tremendous Houdini act," said one source close to Deutsche Telekom, referring to escape artist extraordinaire Harry Houdini.

Reports say a successor could be named on Friday.

The company's powerful supervisory board, which meets next Tuesday, is reportedly split over sacking Mr Sommer and also on who should replace him.

But expectations are that Mr Sommer, who has built up a 67bn euro (�44bn) debt pile in a two-year acquisition spree, will not survive as head of Europe's biggest telecoms operator past German elections in September.

Employees letter

About 18,000 employees put their name to the letter calling on the government, which owns 43% of the company, not to meddle in its affairs.

"The initiative came from the employees, who were sending thousands of e-mails showing support for Sommer," said a Deutsche Telekom spokesman.

Unions also gave their support to Mr Sommer, with a representative saying there was no reason why he should be sacked.

"But if there were to be a change, we'd like to see an internal solution," added Ado Wilhelm of the services union Verdi.

The government has reportedly created a short-list of successors led by Michael Frenzel, head of tourism group TUI and Klaus Mangold, an executive at DaimlerChrysler.

A DaimlerChrysler spokesman said Mangold was not available for the job and TUI declined to comment.

Stabilised

US mobile operator Voicestream, Mr Sommer's most controversial acquisition, on Thursday issued an unscheduled report saying it had added 525,000 new subscribers in the second quarter and lifted underlying profits 50% to 106m euros.

And Telekom's German fixed-line business T-Com, the main cash earner, stabilised, recording 5bn euros in underlying profits in the first half of the year, the company said.

"The Voicestream numbers are very impressive," said Hannes Wittig, telecoms analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein.

Deutsche Telekom's shares have rallied 17% since Monday on hopes a new boss would restructure the company.

On Friday, the shares were up 6% at 12.30 euros in early afternoon trading.