Orange and T-Mobile to Speed Up Merger's Approval

Wireless carriers Orange and T-Mobile UK announced last year plans to merge their operations in a joint-venture that will better compete on the mobile phone market in the country, and now they unveiled new plans regarding the deal. The duo aims at offering 25 percent of their 1800MHz spectrum to other carriers in the country, in an attempt to speed up the approval of their merger.

In their attempt to speed up the regulatory approval of the wireless network joint venture, France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom, the parent companies of Orange and T-Mobile, announced plans to give up 25 percent of choice 1800MHz spectrum to rivals. Their merger needs to be approved by the European Commission, and it seems that they are attempting to make sure that the deal moves faster through the regulatory process through eliminating one of the possible issues of the merger.

The joint-venture between Orange and T-Mobile would gain the largest market share in the UK, as their combined infrastructure and customer bases would account for 37 percent market share in the UK and 28.4 million customers. According to Mobile News, the duo aims at receiving all the necessary approvals before the end of March; yet, in case the European Commission decides to investigate the merger, that would delay the deal by several months.

It seems that the main issue is not the market share the joint-venture would account for after the merger, although there were concerns from Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading in the UK. However, the monopoly of the 1800MHz band Orange and T-Mobile would enjoy is something that might delay the process, especially since it is the basis for 4G services and fast mobile broadband, reports Mobile News.

At the same time, the news site notes that rival carriers O2, Vodafone and 3 are fighting over around 50 percent of the 1800MHz spectrum, and they are considering the new proposal made by the duo insufficient. However, the two companies also revealed plans to continue T-Mobile's network sharing project with 3 in the country, through which the carriers wound share 13,000 cell sites by October.