T-Mobile and Orange to merge, launching UK marketing campaign

UK mobile phone networks, T-Mobile and Orange are due to merge into one company within the next couple of months  launching a huge UK marketing campaign, according to new UK marketing news.

The European Union agreed to the merge, which will have market share of about 37 per cent. This percentage was expected to spark controversy, but it has turned out to be lower than the share of mobile leaders in some other EU countries. Mobile company 3 is the fifth UK player.

One of the conditions of approval from the European Commission are: “The amendment of an existing network sharing agreement with 3 UK, to ensure that there remain sufficient competitors in the market.” The other main requirement is the sale of 25 per cent of the two firms’ combined spectrum in the 1.8GHz band.

This review has given larger players more time to prepare for this merge. Vodafone, in particular, is now expected to unleash a major marketing campaign and revamp of its UK services, though it is not expected to appeal against the merger.

Ronan Dunne, CEO of Telefonica-owned O2 UK, welcomed the ruling on 1.8GHz. “We are pleased that the European Commission has taken steps to address the significant competition issues arising from the concentration of 1.8GHz spectrum, although we await the precise detail of how the spectrum remedy will operate in practise,” he said in a statement.

“It’s crucial to get this right. The spectrum needs to be made available to the market in a way that promotes competition for next generation super fast mobile broadband.”

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