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Orange and T-Mobile offer UK concessions
18 February 2010
France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom are prepared to release spectrum to other operators to help win approval for the merger of their UK operations
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Orange
T-Mobile
UK
France Telecom
Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom have offered antitrust concessions to the European Commission to win regulatory approval for a merger of their mobile phone businesses in the UK.
The two companies have agreed to sell off part of their combined radio spectrum and offer some network sharing guarantees to appease competition concerns over their mobile joint venture.
The Orange/T-Mobile entity will be prepared to give up 25% of the spectrum it will hold at the 1800 MHz bandwidth. The new combined company is also willing to enter an infrastructure-sharing agreement with 3, the U.K.’s smallest network operator.
France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom are offering the concessions in the hope of receiving approval for the merger by next month. The duo is looking to avoid an in-depth investigation by the commission, which will take several more months to complete. GTB