Troubled German telecoms group MobilCom has said its creditor banks have extended a deadline to repay a 4.7bn euros loan for a week.

The deal comes on the expectation that major shareholder France Telecom, which owns 28.5%, will sign a refinancing deal for the loan shortly.

"The France Telecom deal is not going to signed on Friday but in the next few days," a spokesman for MobilCom said.

France Telecom has not confirmed the statement.

It is the fifth time MobilCom's banks have postponed the repayment deadline of July.

On Thursday, MobilCom's founder and main shareholder Gerhard Schmid signed a deal with the German economy ministry to put his shares to a trust, opening the way for the rescue of the company.

Mobile refinancing

MobilCom has been on the verge insolvency since France Telecom stopped funding the company after a row with Mr Schmid over shutting down its third generation mobile phone plans.

MobilCom has been surviving off a 50m euro loan, which was part of a rescue deal in September in which it cut 1,850 of its 4,200 workers, but that lifeline is now running out.

France Telecom, which itself has a debts of 70bn euros, has promised to refinance 7bn euros of MobilCom's liabilities, which included 4.7bn owed to banks, once Schmid put his 40% stake in the hands of an independent trustee.

The company's third-generation mobile phone business would be shut down and France Telecom carry the costs and receive any proceeds from an asset sale.

MobilCom serves roughly five million German customers, but is dwarfed by its rivals Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom.