The European Commission has just approved a merger that will see Orange and T-Mobile combine to form largest mobile phone company in the UK.

The decision comes just after the Office of Fair Trading withdrew its call for an in-depth investigation of the deal. Initially the OFT requested to review the deal and likely would have passed the deal along to the Competition Commission which could have delayed the merger for months.

The OFT recently published its objections, with the main concern being reduced competition in the market and the hindrance of 3, the UK’s smallest market, which OFT claims would no longer be able to compete with its larger rivals.

In order to appease regulators who opposed the venture Orange and T-Mobile agreed to release a quarter of their combined spectrum, and a network sharing deal with 3 to 16,000 sites for greater reach across the nation.

The European Commission has stated that the approval is “conditional upon the amendment of an existing network sharing agreement” with 3UK to ensure that there remains “sufficient competition” in the market.

After announcing the plan to merge last year, the two companies can now start to combine their businesses. The new super company will take over 37 per cent of the market with nearly 30 million customers. As a result, O2 will be knocked from first to second in the UK followed by Vodafone in third.

By Taylor Turner