Merger of T-Mobile UK - Orange UK Completed

On Thursday, April 1, Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom, leading European wireless carriers announced that the merger of their UK operations has been successfully completed. The announcement follows the agreement unveiled in September last year for the forming of a joint-venture in the country, and the completion of the merger is the result of obtaining of all necessary approvals, the two companies noted.

According to the pair, the joint-venture “will be accounted for using the equity method as of April 2010 for both Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom.” At the same time, the two companies revealed that Tom Alexander, former CEO of Orange UK, has been appointed as chief executive of the new Joint Venture, while Richard Moat, the former CEO of T-Mobile UK, has been named chief financial officer and Deputy CEO.

“A Board of Directors has also been formed, on which Tom Alexander and Richard Moat will serve as executive directors. Tim Höttges, CFO of Deutsche Telekom, will lead the board as non-executive chairman for two years. After this time, the leadership will rotate to Gervais Pellissier, Deputy CEO and CFO of France Telecom, for two years,” the duo stated.

Philipp Humm, chief regional officer Europe for Deutsche Telekom, and Olaf Swantee, executive vice president Europe at France Telecom, will join the six-person Board too, yet they will be non-executive directors. The joint-venture between Orange UK and T-Mobile UK is expected to account for about 37 percent of the mobile market in the country, and it should total a combined user base of 28.4 million customers. The new entity would thus become the leader in the UK market, sending O2 to the second place.

Deutsche Telekom, a leading integrated telecommunications company, has operations in around 50 countries around the world and accounted for more than 151 million mobile customers as of December 31, 2009. France Telecom had a user base of around 132.6 million mobile customers at the end of the last year, while its Orange brand is the number three mobile operator in Europe.