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| Hutchison to buy Orange Austria as it seeks expansion | Hutchison to buy Orange Austria as it seeks expansion |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| Hong Kong's Hutchison 3G has agreed to buy Orange Austria in a bid to expand it presence and boost its market share in the country. | Hong Kong's Hutchison 3G has agreed to buy Orange Austria in a bid to expand it presence and boost its market share in the country. |
| Hutchison will pay 1.3bn euros ($1.7bn; £1bn) for a complete buyout of the firm. | Hutchison will pay 1.3bn euros ($1.7bn; £1bn) for a complete buyout of the firm. |
| The deal is expected to make Hutchison, which already operates in Austria under the name '3', the third-largest mobile phone operator the country. | The deal is expected to make Hutchison, which already operates in Austria under the name '3', the third-largest mobile phone operator the country. |
| Hutchison 3G is unit of billionaire Li Ka-shing's Hutchison Whampoa. | Hutchison 3G is unit of billionaire Li Ka-shing's Hutchison Whampoa. |
| 'Critical mass numbers' | |
| Hutchison's '3' brand has been lagging behind other competitors such as A1 and T-Mobile Austria which have the bulk of the market share. | |
| Analysts said that for Hutchison to remain viable and profitable in the country, it had to increase its consumer base. | |
| "In the telecom business there is a real co-relation between market share and profitability," Bertrand Bidaud of Gartner told the BBC. | |
| Mr Bidaud explained that given the high competition in the Austrian market, the best way for Hutchison to increase its share was to look for consolidation. | |
| "To get market share you can fight against the competition or buy one of them out - that is what they have done" he said. | |
| "It is a significant step to reach critical mass numbers for Hutchison." |