Concessions offered on T-Mobile-Orange deal

France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom have offered concessions to the European Commission in order to get regulatory approval for a merger of their mobile phone businesses in the UK. But the offer might not be enough to secure rapid approval from Brussels, due to protests from other UK mobile operators that they do not go far enough.

A merger of France Telecom's Orange UK and Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile UK was proposed last September, in a move that would create Britain's largest mobile operator, with 29.5m customers. Last week, France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom told the Commission that the combined entity would be prepared to relinquish up to 25 per cent of the spectrum it will hold at the 1800 MHz bandwidth. The Orange/T-Mobile entity would hold the bulk of the UK's 1800 MHz spectrum, which is suitable for the fourth-generation wireless technology that will provide faster web browsing on mobile phones. By offering the concessions, France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom are hoping they can secure approval for the merger by next month. They want to avoid the Commission launching an in-depth investigation that would last several more months.