Vodafone is mulling a multibillion-pound swoop for T-Mobile UK, according to a report.
T-Mobile UK’s German owner Deutsche Telekom has appointed JPMorgan to advise on how to offload the business, The Financial Times reports. Talk of a Teutonic retreat from the British mobile market intensified last month when T-Mobile UK’s poor performance forced its parent company to issue a profits warning.
If Vodafone were to launch a successful bid – it’s “examining the case for making an offer” according to the FT’s “people familiar with the situation” – the combined firm would control 40 per cent of the market. It would overtake O2, currently in the lead with a 27 per cent share.
A second option, also reportedly under consideration, would be for Vodafone to take control of T-Mobile UK in a joint venture with 3’s parent company Hutchinson Whampoa.
Either way, competition regulators would be obliged to closely examine the deal. (Via The Register)