Clearance for T-Mobile & Orange mobile to Merge

 

 

The European Commission is expected to fast-track the deal after the two companies offered key concessions to ease the concerns of competition and industry watchdogs in the UK. The tie-up between the British arm of Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile, and Orange UK, a subsidiary of France Telecom. The two plan to form a joint venture with some 30 million customers, allowing it to overtake O2 as Britain’s biggest player  with 37% of the market Share.

The deal met with opposition from the Office of Fair Trading, the competition regulator, Ofcom, the industry watchdog, and rival mobile-phone operators. This month the OFT requested that it be granted the right to rule on the merger. Orange and TMobile have agreed to give up some bandwidth, prompting both the OFT and Ofcom to tell the European Commission. The commission has until March 1 to decide whether to refer the inquiry to the UK authorities, but the behind-the-scenes deal now makes this unlikely. One key concession concerns 3, Britain’s smallest mobile operator, and its network-sharing agreement with T-Mobile. Another concession has seen the two companies offer to relinquish up to a quarter of the valuable 1,800MHz bandwidth. If the merger goes ahead, the enlarged group is expected to continue using both the Orange and T-Mobile brands. Phone charges could fall as a result of the deal.

TMobile, TMobile orange deal, TMobile merges with orange, t-mobile, orange uk, orange mobile, european commission, oft, ofcom,