Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom mother companies to UK networks T-mobile and Orange have finally confirmed that their UK businesses are to merge to create a new UK market leader, providing better competition amongst the market and challenging the two big rivals Vodaphone and O2.

When completed, a deal between the two providers would see a firm with sales of £8.2bn. It would be the UK’s largest provider, overtaking O2, with about 37% of the mobile market and 28.4m customer subscriptions.

Orange CEO Tom Alexander: The move means ‘better value and better coverage’

Orange and T-Mobile said their deal would "bring substantial benefits to UK customers", and promised expanded network coverage, better network quality and improved customer services.

However, it is likely that competition authorities in the UK and EU will probe the deal.

The announcement takes Deutsche Telekom a step towards solving its problems in the UK, where fourth-placed T-Mobile UK has long suffered poor profitability as it has been squeezed by larger rivals Orange, Vodafone UK and O2.

Only time will tell as to whether this move will provide customers with a network that really does offer better coverage and network quality, but lets hope they do.

Sources: BBC and Financial Times