If true, this rumor out of the UK could be a sign of more pan national mergers in the mobile industry.
Here's why:
1) DT, aka as T-Mobile and France Telecom, aka as Orange are in multiple countries competing head to head. This means duplicate staff, towers, etc.
2) T-Mobile is already exiting the UK in a swap with Vodafone, which hands over the towers and infrastructure while T-Mobile likely shares the customers with Orange in this proposed deal.
3) Both T-Mobile and Orange are bullish on the UMA platform.
4) The contiguous nature of the deal makes sense in markets if they want to imperialize the mobile world. Already they compete in Austria and likely a few other markets, but they don't compete in France or Spain, two Orange strong holds.
5) Earlier this year Voadfone and Telefonica announced an alignment. This buffets that in markets and makes it a more interesting game for all.
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