Orange and T-Mobile cosy up
AFTER MONTHS of speculation, the fate of ailing network operator T-Mobile UK has finally been decided, following this morning's announcement of its merger with Orange.
Deutsche Telekom, owner of T-Mobile, and France Telecom, owner of Orange, said that they have entered into "exclusive negotiations" to combine the two firms in a 50/50 joint venture.
The new entity will gain an overnight lead in the highly competitive UK mobile operator market with a share of around 37 per cent, representing 28 million customers. Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom said that the deal will benefit customers by providing better coverage and a wider network of stores.
The proposed deal will be bad news for rivals O2 and Vodafone, which currently rank first and second in the UK with market shares of around 27 per cent and 25 per cent, respectively, although the merger is still subject to scrutiny by telecoms regulators.
According to the operators, their lucky customers will get the best mobile broadband on offer in Britain.
The companies said that shareholders will benefit from higher profitability and immediate cash flow. µ
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Hmmm so is this the harbinger of further mergers? What about a merger between Vodaphone and 3 as has happened elsewhere?
The real problem is less competition means fewer high street deals!
What I don't understand is why we even need high street mobile phone shops...
Why not close the lot of them and spend the money instead on improving the 3g Network.
this will make little difference to my high street. The Orange store long ago turned into a 3 store. Which is a bit ironic given the terrible 3G signal round my area.
I only hope T-Mobile had good customer care and this rubs off on Orange, and not the other way round. Orange's recent handling of their long standing customers who wanted to know when the N97 was finally going to arrive has been terrible.