The proposed merger between Orange and T-Mobile gets all the nods from competition authorities and government bodies in UK and Europe. This signals the creation of UKs largest mobile operator with 30 million users and a market share of around 37 percent.

Timotheus Höttges, the CFO of Deutsche Telekom said- “The negotiations were conducted in a fair way 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 number one in UK mobile market.”

Of late, T-mobile has faired well but Orange has been fairing below expectations with its fixed broadband customer base dwindling to below the 1 million mark.

Most analysts believe that the merger will allow the companies to better leverage their synergies and develop competitive synergies in high growth sectors such as mobile broadband and roll out innovative services.

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Virgin Mobile, France MVNO has reportedly confirmed that it is in talks with cable operator Numericable, among others, about a possible joint bid for the country’s fourth 3G network licence. Virgin Mobile France CEO Geoffroy Roux de Bezieux said that no decision had been taken, but that if the company chose to proceed it would certainly do so in partnership. Virgin has a limited number of potential partners, he said, as Free wishes to bid alone. A tie-up with Numericable made sense as the cable has 4 million subscribers and Virgin 1 million, Roux de Bezieux added. A Numericable spokesman reportedly said that this was one scenario envisaged and that all options were being considered.