T-Mobile, Orange to Merge U.K. Operations

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 8, 2009 - 7:26am.

London - Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom announced on Tuesday that they will merge their T-Mobile UK and Orange UK units, respectively, into a new joint venture that will have a combined customer base of 28.4 million, or 37% of all U.K. mobile subscribers.

The merger is expected to cost between $655 million and $983 million, and create savings of about $826 million by 2014.

The joint venture will have pro forma 2008 revenues of $13.6 billion and EBITDA of $3 billion.

The companies said the joint venture will bring expanded 2G and 3G network coverage, better customer proximity to retail stores, and new bundled service packages.

The as-yet-unnamed venture will be led by Orange CEO Tom Alexander, while T-Mobile UK CEO Richard Moat will serve as chief operating officer.

The deal is expected to close in November.

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ro8g0

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10346417-94.html

http://www.orange.co.uk

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk