14 DAY TRIAL // UK wireless carriers Orange and T-Mobile announced in November last year plans to merge their operations in a new entity, and it seems that they have finally received green light from regulatory commissions. Both Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) have reportedly announced that they would not further investigate the merger between the two companies, and it seems that the European Commission also agreed with the joint venture.
France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom, the parent companies of Orange and T-Mobile UK, respectively, revealed a few days ago that they planned to give up 25 percent of the 1800MHz bandwidth to rival carriers in the country, and it seems that this represented a key factor in eliminating regulatory and competition obstacles.
At the same time, the two companies also said that they would continue the sharing program of T-Mobile's network with 3 in the UK, which is expected to result in the pair share of 13,000 cell sites by October. Moreover, the move would also enable 3 to use a number of 16,000 cell towers in the UK, since the agreement remains valid even after the merger of the two companies.
According to Mobile News, both The Sunday Times and The Sunday Telegraph have stated that Ofcom and the OFT already advised the European Commission that they did not plan on pursuing the merger any further. And it seems that the EC will fast-track approval of the joint-venture during the ongoing week. However, it still remains to be seen when all decisions on the matter are officially unveiled.
As stated above, the joint-venture between Orange and T-Mobile in the UK would account for 37 percent share of the mobile phone market in the country, taking the crown from O2, which is the current leader in the market. Moreover, the combined user base of the two companies would total 28.4 million customers, Mobile News also notes.