UK regulatory authorities may soon stop the deal between T-Mobile and Orange from going ahead as its dominance would offer a larger mobile phone market to both the firms. According to a recent report in the Guardian that does not quote any source, the government is working with 5 of the major wireless network providers of the UK in order to impose restrictions on the quantity of spectrum that every operator can own.
Perhaps, the Office of Fair Trading will have to enquire the EU if it can examine the deal as France Telecom owns Orange whereas Deutsche Telekom owns T-Mobile. The report states that OFT will be given the duty for deciding on how much spectrum the networks should be allowed.
The mobile phone market in the UK is presently dominated by O2, which has a market share of 27 per cent, followed by Vodafone and Orange having a market share of 25 per cent and 22 per cent respectively. However, if T-Mobile and Orange merge, both partners will hold a market share of 37 per cent. The report also said that the government believes this percentage may be too large for fair competition.