T-Mobile and Orange are to merge their UK businesses, creating a mobile phone giant with 28.4 million customers.
The deal between Orange-owner France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile UK will see a business with sales of 9.4bn euros (£8.2bn; $13.5bn).
Holding about 37% of the mobile market it will be the UK’s largest provider, overtaking Telefonica’s O2.
It is the second large corporate deal in two days, after Kraft Food’s £10.2bn takeover proposal for Cadbury.
Orange and T-Mobile said their deal - due to be signed by November - would “bring substantial benefits to UK customers”, and promised expanded network coverage, better network quality and improved customer services.
However it is likely that competition authorities in the UK and EU will probe the deal.
‘Efficiencies’
Both brands will remain separate for the first 18 months after the deal is completed while branding is reviewed.
Orange chief executive Tom Alexander will lead the new company, with T-Mobile’s UK boss Richard Moat as chief operating officer.
Orange employs 12,500 people in the UK, while T-Mobile has UK workforce of 6,500.
A spokeswoman confirmed there would be “efficiencies” that could be made across both businesses - but said it was too early to give details of any impact on staff.
Integrating the business will cost between £600m and £800m, the firms said. This bill would include decommissioning mobile phone masts, cutting back the network of stores and streamlining other operations. Over time, savings should reach about £3.5bn, they added.
Mobile phone analyst Nigel Hawkins told the BBC that it was not unprecedented for a firm to have move than a third of a European country’s mobile phone market.
“Over the next few weeks and months there will inevitably be some negotiation with regulators, and we could see some concessions from the operators,” he added.
“If the deal goes ahead, then this merged firm, along with O2 and Vodafone will have more than 90% of the UK market and there will be concern that there remains plenty of competition and that this position is not abused.”
Avoiding writedowns
Deutsche Telekom said earlier this year that it was considering its options for its UK business - which has struggled to win customers in the highly competitive market - which sees five operators and several smaller players compete.
Observers say that a joint venture allows the German firm to avoid the write downs it could face if forced to sell T-Mobile UK for less than it hoped.
Meanwhile, for France Telecom, the deal it is a way to strengthen its position in the UK market without paying cash or taking on vastly more debt.
T-Mobile is currently the fourth-largest mobile operator in the UK, with a 15% share of the market. O2 has a 27% share, followed by Vodafone (25%) and Orange (22%).
这样好啊，可以和O2以及Voda竞争了，不过3也应该考虑考虑出路了
3的skype无敌！
那以后该叫 TRANGE了。 
一直都不喜欢他们两家~~特别是ORANGE~
原來英國的電訊供應商都不是英國的
Twister于2009-09-08写道:
那以后该叫 TRANGE了。
啊哈哈哈，这个名字好。。。Trange。哈哈哈哈
要再有个3的话。。。。 3Trange。。。呵呵