So this is a pretty strange development. For years, Deutsche Telekom has been trying to sell T-Mobile USA and get out of the US. Why? Because T-Mobile was hemorrhaging money pretty bad and losing customers like crazy. However, since John Legere took over the company, that’s changed. They’ve done a complete turn around and are now adding over a million customers per quarter, instead of losing almost a million per quarter. Recently DT came out and said that they weren’t looking to sell T-Mobile USA, which was a pretty surprising move, but one we saw coming as they were wanting more and more money for T-Mobile USA. But now Deutsche Telekom is looking to sell EE (or Everything Everywhere) which is their joint venture with Orange. At least according to Bloomberg: “Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE) and Orange SA have resumed talks to sell their U.K. mobile-phone joint venture EE Ltd., an asset that may be valued at as much as $19 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.”
EE was formed in 2010, by Orange and T-Mobile UK. Right now it’s the largest UK carrier by customers at least, and is valued at about 15 billion euros, or $19 billion USD.
“Deutsche Telekom and Orange, the biggest phone companies in Germany and France, respectively, pooled their U.K. assets together to help generate savings in network and purchasing. Now they’re looking to at least partially cash in on that strategy. The owners called off an IPO plan for EE earlier this year following a strategic review.”
It’s kind of weird that both Orange and Deutsche Telekom – who are the biggest carriers in France and Germany respectively – would be looking to sell EE to someone, or some company. But perhaps this is even more consolidation over in Europe? If that was in the US, Orange and T-Mobile UK would have never been allowed to merge.