The European Commission has published in the Official Journal of the European Union of 16 January 2010 the prior notification of concentration between Orange and T-Mobile in the UK.

On 11 January 2010, the Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration by which the undertakings France Télécom and Deutsche Telekom, acquire within the EC Merger Regulation joint control of a newly created company constituting a joint venture, by contributing to the joint venture their wholly owned subsidiaries Orange UK and T-Mobile UK, respectively.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

• France Télécom (EPA:FTE): provision of integrated telecommunications and information technology services.
• Deutsche Telekom (NYSE:DT): provision of integrated telecommunications and information technology services.
• Orange UK: provision of mobile telephony services in UK.
• T-Mobile UK: provision of mobile telephony services in UK.

On preliminary examination, the Commission finds that the notified transaction could fall within the scope of EU rules. However, the final decision on this point is reserved. Thus, the Commission invites interested third parties to submit their possible observations on the proposed operation to the Commission.

Observations must reach the Commission not later than 10 days following the date of this publication. Observations can be sent to the Commission by fax (+32 22964301 or 22967244) or by post, under reference number COMP/M.5650 — T-Mobile/Orange, to the following address:

European Commission
Directorate-General for Competition
Merger Registry
1049 Bruxelles/Brussel
BELGIQUE/BELGIËEN C 10/26 Official Journal of the European Union