Orange and T-Mobile offer 1800MHz spectrum concessions

Orange and T-Mobile announced plans to merge in September

Orange and T-Mobile have told the European Commission (EC) that they will give up 25 per cent of the key 1,800MHz frequency spectrum if their proposed merger is approved.

A report in the Financial Times claims that both companies had made the offer in an attempt to quell concerns from rival operators that the merger would give the newly formed company an unfair dominance over the key spectrum.

The bandwidth is considered vital for the development and hosting of fourth-generation wireless technology, an area considered a major growth market by mobile operators.

Orange and T-Mobile hope that the concessions will allow the merger to go ahead within the month. The companies had been facing investigations by the EC and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).

However, the Financial Times quoted off-the-record sources from operator rivals Vodafone and O2 as saying that the amount of spectrum the firms are willing to relinquish is not enough.

Several network operators called on the OFT in early January to look into the merger, and the regulator confirmed in February that it had asked the EC to refer UK elements of the merger to its authority as it "threatened to affect competition in mobile telecommunications".

A spokesperson for Orange said at the time that the company "strongly believes the proposed merger is good for Britain".