The news of a merger between France Telecom’s Orange and Deutsche Telekom’s UK mobile arm T-Mobile that had sent ripples across the mobile industry may face some regulatory hurdles. A new regulation to impose a cap on the amount of broadcast spectrum owned by a single operator has been suggested by the government.
The news of the merger was announced sometime in September. If it happens, the merged entity will be the largest mobile operator in the UK and it will acquire nearly 37 percent of the market share. This news has made the consumer groups wary, as the merger will thus mean a reduction in competition in the mobile market. This has prompted industry analysts to question the regulators.
The Guardian recently published a report that stated that plans over broadcast spectrum allocation might need to be revised, as they are aligned with the government’s pledge to bring 2Mb broadband to everyone in the UK by 2012. In order to provide better broadband across the country, talks regarding the reallocation of broadcast spectrum between the UK’s five mobile networks and the government have been on for sometime now.
Recently a last-minute deal was announced, which may prompt the EU regulators to allow the UK authorities to probe the merger, and this will cause a likely delay in the merger. The outcome may lead T-Mobile and Orange to sell some of their jointly held broadcast spectrum.
If you need more information on the ISPs, Mobile Broadband Genie’s comparative table of UK broadband providers includes an analysis of the products and services from all the mobile internet service providers. So take a look at their website; click on your provider, and check out the latest on broadband UK.
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