Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile UK and France Telecom's Orange signed an agreement to seal the deal to merge their British operations on Thursday 5 November.

Deutsche Telekom's Chief Financial Officer Timotheus Hoettges said "Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom have committed themselves to a long-term partnership with this joint venture contract,".

This joint venture will be the leading mobile phone operator in the UK with 37% market share, pushing current leader, Telefonica's O2 to the second spot with 27% and the local company, Vodafone to an embarassing 3rd place in its home market with only 25%.

The companies hope for full approval of the deal by mid-2010 and have said that they will maintain the same brands - Orange and T-Mobile UK -- for the next 18 months.