(Adds Vodafone reaction, analyst comment)
By Hendrik Sackmann
BONN, June 27 (Reuters) - Deutsche Telekom AG , Europe's largest telecoms company, said on Thursday its consortium had won a contract worth several billion euros to build and run Germany's new electronic road toll system.
Deutsche Telekom teamed up to bid for the government contract with DaimlerChrysler AG , the world's number five car maker, and with French road operator Cofiroute, a unit of construction firm Vinci SA .
Analysts said the contract was not overwhelming in size but could lead to further business for Deutsche Telekom's software and systems integration unit T-Systems.
"It's a kind of reference project for similar contracts tendered in other European countries," said Ralf Hallmann, telecoms analyst at Bankgesellschaft Berlin. "With the German deal, they are in a good position for those bids."
From next year the German transport ministry expects to collect 3.4 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in tolls annually from trucks rolling over German highways, up to 20 percent of which could go to the winning operator over the next 12 years.
"We expect the contracts to be finalised in the next weeks," Deutsche Telekom board member Josef Brauner told a news conference at the firm's headquarters in Bonn. "The contract is worth several billion euros in revenues over the next years."
The Deutsche Telekom consortium beat a rival group led by European mobile phone giant Vodafone .
However, traders said the announcement had been anticipated by the market and had no real impact on shares of the two big German companies.
"Confirmation of Deutsche Telekom and Daimler winning the government road toll deal did not have an impact on Telekom nor on Daimler shares," a Frankfurt-based trader said.
Deutsche Telekom traded 5.2 percent up at 9.04 euros, and DaimlerChrysler was up 1.8 percent at 48.10 euros by 1309 GMT, while the German blue chip DAX was up 3.3 percent.
"Deutsche Telekom is simply going up in line with the overall market, which is heading back to pre-WorldCom levels," the trader said.
VODAFONE CONSIDERS APPEAL
The rival bidder, Ages Mautsysteme, which comprises Vodafone , filling station chains Aral and Shell and which runs the existing manual road toll system, said it was considering an appeal and would decide on what action to take next week.
"There is no reason for premature joy at (Deutsche Telekom's consortium)," a spokesman for Ages said.
Ages has 10 days to challenge the government's decision at the German cartel office, which scrutinises how the government contracts out jobs. An appeal could delay the contract's signature by up to another three months.
The electronic toll system will be based on satellite controlled devices installed in heavy goods vehicles using German roads. The trucks will automatically pay an average 15 cents per kilometre, depending on size and harmful emissions.
Deutsche Telekom's Brauner said the system would take about a year to build. He said he expected annual revenues of 600-700 million euros for the consortium, with earnings to the tune of double-digit million euros.
Deutsche Telekom and Daimler both own 45 percent of the consortium, while Cofiroute has the remainder. (Additional reporting by Boris Groendahl and Hannfried von Hindenburg in Frankfurt and Markus Wacket in Berlin)