Orange, T-Mobile UK: Spectrum Strife to Delay Merger?

The pending merger of Orange UK and T-Mobile UK is in danger of being delayed by England’s Office of Fair Trading and the Competition Commission.

The regulatory agencies are scrutinizing the approximately $13.5 billion deal – a 50/50 joint venture between the wireless divisions of France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom – for spectrum holdings. When the two companies combine, they’ll hold 37 percent of the mobile market in the U.K.; because of that, they may be forced to sell some of their wireless spectrum in Britain.

British regulators also are capping the amount of spectrum each of its five mobile operators can own.