Hong Kong’s Hutchison Whampoa, which operates Three (brand) mobile networks, is reportedly offering 1.4 billion EUR for Orange Austria to merge it with its operations in the country (3 Austria). According to local press reports, a deal could go through as soon as next month, though none of the parties involved commented.
At the moment, Orange has 2.2 million connections and Three – 1.3 million. The new company would stand a chance to compete with the two leading carriers in the country, Telekom Austria’s A1 (5.2 million connections) and T-Mobile (3.9 million).
If everything goes as planned, Hutchison will sell excess base stations, spectrum as well as Orange’s prepaid “Yesss” brand to A1.
Contrary to popular belief, France Telecom isn’t the majority owner of Orange Austria – it holds 35% of the company while the rest is owned by private-equity firm Mid Europa Partners. Austria is one of several European markets where France Telecom is reviewing the possible disposal of assets seen as “non-core.”
[Via: MobileBusinessBriefing]