Mobile merger
The Financial Times has reported that UK mobile phone giant Vodafone is considering buying the T-Mobile UK from its current owner Deutsche Telekom.
T-Mobile is currently the UK's fourth biggest mobile phone operator, with 15 percent of the market. O2 is top with 27 percent and Vodafone is second with 25 percent.
Any acquisition is bound to attract the attention of the regulatory authorities, but the 40 percent share owned by a combined operation is still a minority of the market and there would still be three competitors.
The FT reported that Deutsche Telekom has appointed JPMorgan to look into strategic options for T-Mobile, but couldn't get comments from either operator. The story is based on accounts from the usual ‘people familiar with the situation'.
It's thought that the next few months might see a fair bit of mergers and acquisitions activity, with share and asset prices being historically low due to the recession, but signs of the beginning of a recovery making companies less risk-averse.
