FRANKFURT Public prosecutors in Germany have launched a probe to establish whether telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom misrepresented the value of its technology assets on its balance sheet, press reports here said on Monday.

The weekly newsmagazine ****Der Spiegel**** reported in its latest edition that the assets, including computers, telephone cable and switchboards, were overvalued in the group's annual accounts to the tune of 15-21 billion marks (7.7-10.7 billion euros, 6.5-8.6 billion dollars).