OFT satisfied with Orange/T-Mobile competition remedies

23/10 1 March 2010

The OFT has withdrawn its request to the European Commission (EC) to review the UK aspects of the joint venture between Orange and T-Mobile after the companies offered remedies that fully address the OFT's outstanding competition concerns.

The OFT's concerns related to the impact of the joint venture on the retail mobile telephone market, especially on Hutchison 3G ('3') given the infrastructure sharing agreement it currently has with T-Mobile.

Separately, the OFT was concerned that the joint venture could have prevented competition emerging in the fourth generation (also known as '4G') mobile telephony market given the particular spectrum holdings that the company would enjoy.

Since then, Orange and T-Mobile have offered remedies to the EC. In particular, the parties have:

offered to divest certain quantities of their 1800MHz spectrum, and
reached an agreement with 3 which ensures that 3's ability to compete in the retail market going forward is not affected as a result of the transaction.

The OFT has worked closely with the EC and Ofcom to review these proposed remedies, and is satisfied that the joint venture will not now have an adverse impact on competition within the UK. It has therefore formally withdrawn its official request to the EC, and the EC has also today announced that it has cleared the Orange/T-Mobile joint venture.

NOTES

In January the OFT commenced consultation on whether to review the UK aspects of the Orange/T-Mobile joint venture.
On 2 February 2010 the OFT submitted a request to the European Commission pursuant to Article 9 of the EU Merger Regulation for the UK aspects of Case COMP/M.5650 Orange/T-Mobile to be referred to the UK for review by the OFT. A non-confidential version of the Article 9 request (pdf 414kb) made by the OFT was published on this website on 22 February 2010.
Mergers that initially fall within the jurisdiction of the EU Merger Regulation may, in some circumstances, be referred to the UK to be examined by the OFT under the Enterprise Act 2002. In this case, the OFT requested that the European Commission refer to the OFT the UK aspects of the Orange/T-Mobile merger under the provisions of Article 9 of the EU Merger Regulation. Further details regarding the referral process can be obtained from chapter 11 of the OFT's Jurisdictional and Procedural Guidance (pdf 1.9Mb) and from the EC's website.
Details of the EC's investigation into the joint venture can be obtained from the EC's website.
The OFT intends to publish the text of the decision letter withdrawing its Article 9 request on this website in due course.

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