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Orange Group and T-Mobile announced their plans to merge the British Operations on Tuesday. The combined customer base of the yet-to-be-named entity will be about 28.4 million people and will hold a whopping 37 percent market share. The deal is expected to be completed by November 2009.

While the deal needs shareholder approval from both the companies, it will also need clearence from both British and European regulators. If everything goes well, the merger is expected to cost between £400m ($656m) and £600m ($984m).

Timotheus Höttges, chief financial officer of T-Mobile UK’s parent company Deutsche Telekom, said in a statement:

“We will become [the] market leader — our customers will benefit in many ways, for example from the best mobile broadband offer in Britain.

“In the second-biggest market in Europe, which is undoubtedly one of the toughest and most competitive, we are giving T-Mobile UK a clear and strong future.”

Orange chief executive Tom Alexander will be chief executive of the new company, with T-Mobile UK chief executive Richard Moat as chief operating officer.

For the companies, the savings are expected to come by removing duplicate base stations and retail outlets, as well as other efficiencies in operational staff and customer support.

Via

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