The Future’s Bright?

T-mobile and Orange are in merger talks which could see them grabbing a UK market share of 37 per cent, 28.4 million customers.

Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile and Orange owner France Telecom would co own a form with sales of 9.4bn euros (£8.2bn) making it the UK’s largest provider, overtaking Telefonica’s O2.

The two are looking to have a deal in place by November and believe the merger would “bring substantial benefits to UK customers”, expanded network coverage, quality and improved customer services but is likely to be held under scrutiny by the competition authorities.

Analysts believe that the companies would remain separate for 18 months, gradually merge and the Orange brand is likely to remain.

If the deal goes ahead, as market leader the super-company would have more clout in demanding must have models like the iPhone, Palm Pre or Blackberry models, although the merged company would likely rein in their contract bundles and as only three players would exist in the market, this means less consumer choice.

The two have a combined workforce of 18,000 in the UK and a spokeswoman admitted that ‘efficiencies’ could be brought in, impacting workers.

Having a third of the market in a European country is not unknown but will start to limit competition and prices as they battle it out with Telefonica’s O2 who own 27 per cent market share as Vodafone own 25 per cent. As a three horse race, 90 per cent of the UK market will be accounted for.