Orange makes move for T-Mobile

Following on from persistent rumours that the UK branch of T-Mobile  was to be offloaded by its parent company Deutsche Telekom, rival mobile broadband provider Orange is said to have made an offer for the company.

Speculation that Deutsche Telekom was looking to sell - which had been going for a while - flared up again  last month when, following poor performance and a profit warning in April, the company brought down the value of T-Mobile on its books to just £3.3bn. The division had been significantly under-performing and the de-valuation was widely seen as an indication that Deutsche Telekom was about to bow to pressure from shareholders to ditch it.

Now The Guardian reports that an unspecified offer has been made to Deutsche Telekom for T-Mobile by rival group France Telecom, Orange's parent company. 

However, it seems that shareholders notwithstanding Deutsche Telekom's management believe that the company should be given a chance, especially under fresh leadership of new UK chief executive Richard Moat, who it is hoped will revive T-Mobile's flagging fortunes. Which puts Mr Moat in an unenviable position, but means that an Orange takeover of T-Mobile won't be happening just yet.