Expert comments on T-Mobile G1 providers merger with Orange

The news that two of the UK’s biggest mobile operators will merge is both good and bad news for consumers in terms of how it will affect the service they receive, an industry expert has advised.

According to a spokeswoman for Informa Telecoms & Media, a group which specialises in the provision of business intelligence for the global telecommunications sector, the announcement that Orange and T-Mobile will unite was a significant one.

Abigail Browne, senior analyst for the organisation, explained that currently the British sector has five major players and for some time this has looked to be unsustainable when it comes to competition.

However, with the proposed merger between the UK mobile arms of France Telecom (Orange) and Deutsche Telecom (T-Mobile) this could bring the market more in line with its European siblings.

“All of this means, or should mean, that there have been very competitive pricing conditions in the UK market and removing one competitor should help remove that pricing pressure a bit,” she added.

Ms Browne went on to say that for the consumer, it could be seen that this reduction in competition could lead to higher prices. But, the expert concluded it could also mean better technologies are made available to people in the market for the latest phones.

It is estimated that if the partnership goes ahead, Orange and T-Mobile will control 39 per cent of the UK mobile sector with around 29.1 million customers – taking over O2 as the nation’s largest provider.