UK Carriers Talk Orange-T-Mobile Joint-Venture

Orange UK and T-Mobile UK are about to merge their operations in a joint-venture targeted at providing wireless telecommunications service in the UK, as the European Commission has just cleared the deal, yet other carriers in the country are concerned about various issues that will emerge. 3 UK is one of them, which speaks of the competition on the market, while O2 UK is looking forward for the exact details on the 1800MHz spectrum problem the merger created.

“We are pleased that the European Commission has taken steps to address the significant competition issues arising from the concentration of 1800MHz spectrum, although we await the precise detail of how the spectrum remedy will operate in practice. It’s crucial to get this right. The spectrum needs to be made available to the market in a way that promotes competition for next generation super fast mobile broadband,” Ronan Dunne, Telefónica O2 UK chief executive, stated, according to Mobile News.

At the same time, the news site notes that 3 UK chief executive Kevin Russell talked about concerns regarding competition and consumer issues, which are believed to be of great importance. At the same time, he also says that the radio spectrum issues need be addressed as soon as possible, and that Ofcom will have to act on mobile termination rates and mobile number portability so as to ensure that the UK remains a competitive market in the telecoms area.

“The approval of the Orange/T-Mobile merger reduces the market from five to four, making it urgent for key competition and consumer issues to be addressed. These include the imbalance of radio spectrum holdings, penal mobile termination rates and a failed mobile number porting system. Customer friendly number porting is the basic platform for competition in the mobile market. UK consumers are alone in Europe in being forced to ask permission of their current operator if they wish to move their phone number to a new provider. The need for action to address competition issues in the UK has never been greater,” he stated.

The merger between France Telecom's subsidiary Orange UK and Deutsche Telekom's subsidiary T-Mobile UK was not seen with good eyes by rival wireless carriers in the country right from the beginning, especially since it results in the largest operator in the UK. The joint venture proposal already received approval from the European Commission, but it seems that other telecoms services providers in the country are still concerned about issues that might emerge, although the elimination of some of them was one of the condition of the merger's approval.