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Everything Everywhere to start spectrum sale
10 April 2012
T-Mobile-Orange joint venture in UK appoints Morgan Stanley to sell surplus 1,800MHz spectrum
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Everything Everywhere
UK
spectrum
France Telecom
Deutsche Telekom
4G
Everything Everywhere, the UK joint venture of Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom, has hired Morgan Stanley to sell a quarter of the 1,800 megahertz spectrum to other companies interested in deploying a 4G network in the country.
The Financial Times reports that the spectrum could cost nearly £400 million to purchasers; with existing top UK-based players the most likely buyers.
This move follows as the competition authorities are forcing Everything Everywhere to sell the spectrum under the approval conditions for the 2010 merger between Orange UK and T-Mobile UK.
Olaf Swantee, chief executive of Everything Everywhere, told the Financial Times: “Whoever we sell to has to be approved by the competition authorities. The test is someone who can provide genuine competition.”
The 4G assigned spectrum sale in the UK may face further delays due to worries among the top operators. Swantee said that he is still certain that it would be able to introduce 4G services before the end of 2012 using these frequencies. According to the instructions by the competition authorities, the joint venture may also have to give 4G network access to its competitor Three, owned by Hutchison.
He further said: “We are confident that this spectrum will be liberalised and we can get 4G before the end of the year. The time period of any advantage that EE may have is not long.” GTB
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