3 Austria close to Orange Austria takeover deal - report

Hutchison 3G Austria (3 Austria) is set to sign a deal in the next few days to acquire rival Orange Austria, 'Die Presse' has learnt. The purchase price is understood to be around EUR 1.4 billion. Orange Austria CEO Michael Krammer told Die Presse that he could not officially comment. To secure cartel office approval for the deal, 3 Austria will sell Orange discount brand Yesss!, as well as frequencies and mobile base stations to Telekom Austria for between EUR 300 million and EUR 400 million. Orange Austria is currently owned by France Telecom and Mid Europa Partners. The combined 3 Austria/Orange Austria would have around 3.5 million customers and a market share of 28 percent. Any deal would have to be approved by EU competition authorities. Data from regulator RTR shows that A1 Telekom Austria leads the mobile market with a 41.3 percent share, followed by T-Mobile with 30.8 percent, Orange with 18.7 percent and 3 Austria with 9.2 percent.