Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom confirmed today that they have signed the final agreement to combine their UK operations, T-Mobile and Orange, into a 50:50 joint venture company.
Completion of the deal relies on the approval of the regulatory authorities and is subject to the approval of the supervisory board at Deutsche Telekom and the board of directors at France Telecom. The two companies expect this to be in the first half of 2010.
The merger, if approved, will create the UK’s largest operator by share.
Deutsche Telekom CFO Timotheus Höttges said: ‘This joint venture is based on the full commitment of Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom to a long-term partnership.
‘The negotiations were conducted in a fair way on both sides and I am certain that this spirit of professionalism and partnership will shape the future of our joint venture. It will set new standards as the number one in the UK mobile market.’
Deutsche Telekom's deputy CEO in charge of group finance & information systems, Gervais Pellissier, said: ‘The relative terms of the transaction as announced on 8 September were fully confirmed.
‘I would like to stress the excellent co-operation between the teams of Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom, which enabled us to deliver on the timing and process objectives that we set out in September. This is an important step towards our objective of establishing an excellent platform to deliver operational synergies and offer innovative and high quality services to our customers.’