Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom could merge mobile assets in other countries following the success of their UK JV Everything Everywhere, according to EE CFO Richard Moat.
Speaking to TelecomFinance at the Mobile World Congress summit in Barcelona…
Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom could merge mobile assets in other countries following the success of their UK JV Everything Everywhere, according to EE CFO Richard Moat.
Speaking to TelecomFinance at the Mobile World Congress summit in Barcelona today, Moat said it was “theoretically possible” to form similar JVs in other European countries.
“People like what they’re seeing,” he said, highlighting the multi- billion pound synergies DT and FT have made through merging their respective T-Mobile and Orange units in the UK, a £5.125bn deal carried out by Perella Weinberg, BoA Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan.
On 11 February, DT and FT announced they have agreed to explore potential areas of cooperation across Europe in technology fields including M2M and WiFi roaming.
Moat declined to comment on where further consolidation could occur, but he said it isn’t significantly more expensive to run two brands under one company.
Indeed, the concept of ‘multi-brands’ is particularly important for high-street retail groups, which can struggle to increase market share more than 35% under just one brand, he added.
By pooling resources together, DT and FT can also avoid clashing advertising commitments.
However, Moat cautioned that EE is still looking at all possibilities for its branding in the UK.
Pilots are currently being trialled with stores sporting both Orange and T-Mobile brands, and those featuring just the EE brand.
EE has pledged to update shareholders on the direction of its brand strategy by October this year.