Deutsche Telekom mulls sale of T-Mobile UK

German telecom major, Deutsche Telekom AG, is in talks with leading mobile operators, Spain's Telefonica SA, UK's Vodafone Group plc and France Telecom SA, for the sale of its loss-making subsidiary T-Mobile UK, Financial Times reported yesterday.

T-Mobile UK is part of the T-Mobile International, a main branch of Bonn-based Deutsche Telekom AG, one of the world's largest telecom companies that has operations in US, Germany, UK, Austria, the Netherlands, Czech Republic and Poland.

The sale of T-Mobile UK could fetch approximately $5.7 billion for Deutsche Telekom, based on current upbeat in the stock markets following some signs of global economic recovery.

It is understood that all the three contenders are interested in the deteriorating mobile unit, although the talks are believed to be only at a preliminary stage.

T-Mobile is the fourth-largest mobile operator in UK with a customer base of over 16 million with 15 per cent market share.

Telefonica's O2 is the largest mobile operator in UK commanding a market share of 28 per cent, followed by Vodafone with 25 per cent, and France Telecom's Orange having 22 per cent.

A takeover could prop up the buyer's market share in the range of 37 to 43 per cent.