T-Orange merger approved The merger of T-Mobile and Orange will go through, after the UK's Office of Fair Trading withdrew its request for time to investigate the deal. The OFT wanted to investigate on the basis that the merged entity would own an unfair proportion of radio spectrum, and that once it had merged with Orange T-Mobile would have little …
clearly these marketing types don't listen to reason!
I mean you could market it with actual Orange Tea. Their logo would be exactly the same but with a couple of chunks blacked out to make it look like an orange T- saving new logo development costs. Plus Orange Wednesdays could continue- but as Orange-T[uesdays]!
Compare that to T-Orange, which conjoures up no images at all. Stupid marketeers.
Perhaps Jane Austen has come back from the dead?
No, the customer will not see one penny of that savings unless the competition compells T-Orange to do so, which coincidentally was the state of affairs before the merger too.
Has anyone suggested that they call the thing O-Mobile? Think of the girly ads that would follow, aka Bond-style "Oh, Mobile!".
Now, where's me coat?
I am not sure you can say that t-orange would be a giant and that O2 and Voda would be also rans. Sure there is a difference but it isnt as marked as you make out. the difference between the new first and second is less than the difference between the old first and fourth but they werent described as an "also-ran".
besides, having the largest market share of disgruntled customers may actually be a liability.
All they need to do is buy talktalk and all the rotten eggs will be in one basket.
After the merger we still have:
Three mobile networks - t/3/o, Voda, O2
three big brands on the T/3/o network (3, Torrange and virgin)
Two big brands on the O2 network (o2 and Tesco)
another virtual operator to come (TalkTalk)
and about a squilliion smaller virtual operators.
Still plenty of competition, more than enough.
"But the details of how Ofcom will auction off the spectrum if it does so, and what T-Orange will be expecting in the way of restitution, remain to be seen."
Well I'd say that since they had to pay through the nose for the spectrum originally, that they should get the same back from Ofcom now, since they are being forced to reliquish it. Any comments about it's value now being less than they paid before is mute, because it wasn't really worth what they paid in the first place!
T-Mobile were always the rubbish network who never quite complied with regulations quick enough, had major issues with mis-selling to customers, had a good sales department, but most importantly they've never had the network infrastructure to be the credible choice.
3's offerings are quite amazingly good, and the old days of no coverage are dwindling. T-Mobile were never a choice for most people who were fully aware the crap coverage meant they would miss calls often. The old free voicemail service they done was free for that very reason!
I'm sure as a bunch of techies reading this article we are all familiar with T-Mobile's infamous lack of coverage, even in zones where having a signal can still mean calls do no register properly. A couple of friends on T-Mobile in different cities still have this problem, which is even obvious when I'm on a night out with them and they can't even send texts whilst the other (better) networks do at least have a chance.
So, assuming more of orange's cell cites are maintained, and T-Mobiles decommissioned, I may consider the offers virgin-mobile have available, whereas before they were simply unviable given the low quality of the T-Mobile infrastructure.
This merger is a good thing for quality, although I agree it's possible prices may end up rising in line to vodafone/o2 prices. You get what you pay for though, MNVO's will still exist for those wishing a cheaper option.
Second year on T-mob and quite happy all around. Voice coverage everywhere I have been. Only time I had trouble was new years eve but Vodafone was swamped first.
Maybe the 'lack of coverage' was down to handset issues?
Not looking forward to Orange coming in, they used to be good but are now exepensive with dire customer service.
3 might be small but in the 9months I've been with them they've been light years better than o2 whom I was with for 7 years, better than Orange whom I was with for 1 year, better than T-Mobile and Voda (whom I was with for a couple of Months).
Only once in this last 9 months have I had no reception, and in fairness I didn't expect reception.
I get fast internet, free iphone tether (don't tell 3), loads of texts and minutes all for £25 a month, only downside I've found is they charge for mms! A small price to pay!
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2025
