mmO2 and T-Mobile announced their intention to co-operate on June 12 this year. The final binding agreements between BT Cellnet and One2One in the UK and T-Mobile and VIAG Interkom in Germany were completed on September 20.
Over the past few months both parties have been busy trying to finalize the operational, technical and commercial details of the proposed collaborations.
David Varney, chairman of mmO2 plc, said: This is an important day for us – it marks another milestone in the birth of mmO2, a business which will continue to be a leading player in the European mobile industry. We are committed to creating shareholder value as a member of the FTSE 100 by tight management focus, growing our wholly owned businesses and continuing our leadership in mobile data.
BT has said that it expects the agreement to deliver up to 30% cost savings over 10 years to mmO2 on capital expenditure relating to 3G network build.
Although the network rollout co-operation deal remains subject to regulatory approvals, both parties believe that these agreements are consistent with all existing regulatory and competition obligations. BT believes it will have no problem convincing its shareholders either.
If the proposals are implemented as expected, the scheme is expected to become effective on November 16, 2001. Following this the demerger will become effective and trading in both the BT Group plc and mmO2 plc shares will commence on November 19.
