T-Mobile UK Again Up for Grabs

According to the latest news around the Web, Deutsche Telekom has started once again the talks for the selling of its T-Mobile UK subsidiary. The talks seem to be only in their early stages, yet some of the companies that are reportedly interested in purchasing the struggled carrier would be Vodafone, France Telecom, and Telefonica, at least this is what the Financial Times reports, citing “people familiar with the situation.”

The mobile phone maker, as many of you might already know, has seen a series of bad quarters lately, and Deutsche Telekom decided earlier this year to sell the subsidiary. At the same time, the company also appointed a new managing director for T-Mobile UK, in the person of Richard Moat, who is in charge of rising the carrier's performance, and who reportedly stated last month that he planned on moving T-Mobile from the fourth position on the UK market to the third one.

Currently, T-Mobile UK accounts for 14.9 percent market share in the country, research firm Enders Analysis states, following France Telecom's Orange with 21.5 percent share, Vodafone with 24.7 percent and Telefonica's O2 subsidiary, leading at 27.7 percent market share. According to FT, a deal between T-Mobile UK and France Telecom's Orange UK might be the most possible one. Previously, Vodafone has been rumored to also be close to reaching a deal for the carrier's acquisition.

It seems that T-Mobile UK has been valued somewhere between €3 billion and €4 billion, though some changes might appear here, given that fact that the recession is reported to have reached its bottom and that T-Mobile could see important gains in market share in the following month or so. In case the company manages to improve its performance in the near future, there are great chances that Deutsche Telekom will cancel the selling process.

Unlike the UK unit, T-Mobile US seems to gain more and more ground on the mobile phone market in the country. This means that Deutsche Telekom needs to focus on it as well, and to resolve the UK problem as soon as possible. However, none of the involved parties have commented on the talks about T-Mobile's sale.