5 Reasons Why T-Mobile Should Merge With 3

Deutsche Telekom is set to exit the UK market if rumours are to be believed and this could mean that its T-Mobile network could be sold or merged with another mobile phone network with 3 being the most likely.

3 merging with T-Mobile makes sense whatever way you look at the proposal and here are five reasons why we think it should go ahead.

(1) Size Matters

3 would desperately be interested in acquiring T-Mobile UK since it would give it the capability (and the clout) to take on the big three mobile phone networks in the UK (O2, Vodafone and Orange). If it fails to do so, it will be too small to compete against them and could die out quickly as the "triopoly" corner the UK mobile phone market. 3 has only 4.4 million active customers in the UK while T-Mobile has a whopping 16.8 million customers (if you include Virgin Mobile). A potential 3 + T-Mobile would bring together more 21 million users together, which is marginally more than O2.

(2) Compatible

3 and T-Mobile are probably 2 of the more progressive mobile phone networks on the market. T-Mobile introduced Web'n'Walk, its "unlimited" monthly internet plan for £5 at a time when others were charging for each megabyte downloaded, and was the first one to partner with Google back in 2005, way before Android was launched. 3 introduced Skype on mobile, something that has yet to be emulated by any other network. They are also the only network that openly allows its users to use their phones as a stand alone modem.