This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/business/8243226.stm
The article has changed 22 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Version 0 | Version 1 |
---|---|
T-Mobile UK and Orange to merge | T-Mobile UK and Orange to merge |
(9 minutes later) | |
UK mobile phone giants T-Mobile UK and Orange are to merge, their parent companies have said. | UK mobile phone giants T-Mobile UK and Orange are to merge, their parent companies have said. |
The deal between Orange owner France Telecom and Deutsch Telekom's T-Mobile UK will create a firm with sales of 9.4bn euros (£8.2bn; $13.5bn). | |
The merged firm will have about 37% of the UK mobile market - overtaking the current leader, Telefonica's O2. | |
It is the second large corporate deal in two days after a Kraft Food's £10.2bn takeover proposal for Cadbury. | It is the second large corporate deal in two days after a Kraft Food's £10.2bn takeover proposal for Cadbury. |
'Champion' | |
T-Mobile is currently the fourth-largest mobile operator in the UK, with a 15% share of the market. | |
O2 is the largest UK operator, with a 27% share, followed by Vodafone (25%) and Orange (22%). | |
The firms said in a joint statement that they hoped to create "a new mobile champion". | |
They also said that it was hoped the 50:50 joint venture could be signed by November. | |
Integrating the business will cost between £600m and £800m, the firms said. These would include decommissioning mobile phone masts, cutting back the network of stores and streamlining other operations. | |
Savings should reach about £445m a year by 2014, they added. |