Orange and T-Mobile have indicated to surrender some of their combined allocation of broadcast spectrum, with the aim that the proposed merger goes ahead, which will result in T-Orange owning a total of 170MHz of broadcast spectrum, compared with Vodafone's 76MHz allocation and 3's 15MHz.

Consumer groups right up to the Office of Fair Trading have expressed concerns over the plan.

The effect on competition in the market and the amount of broadcast spectrum which the merged entity would own, are among the issues raised.

France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom have offered to relinquish up to 25% of their valuable 1800MHz spectrum, well suited to 4G services and fast mobile broadband, in an attempt to speed up regulatory approval for their proposed UK network joint venture.

But despite the concern from Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading in the UK, the proposed merger is considered unlikely to be faced with barriers from the point of view of its customer share.

Deutsche Telekom contributes T-Mobile UK on a cash-free, debt-free basis to the venture, including T-Mobile UK's 50% holding in its 3G network joint venture with 3 and gross tax losses carried forward of at least £1.5 billion.