Vodafone and O2 in bidding battle for T-Mobile?

Vodafone and O2 have put in bids for Deutsche Telekom's UK arm, T-Mobile.

UPDATE: Orange and T-Mobile have announced they'll be merging - read on here.

According to a number of reports, the companies' bids stand between 3.5 billion and 4 billion, with a decision expected on the deals in just a few weeks.

There are also reports of a merger with Orange, which The Guardian has reported as the favoured option for the struggling firm.

Were any of the deals to go ahead it would make the winning bidder the largest mobile operator in the UK by a significant margin.

As it stands the share of the market is 27 per cent for O2, 25 per cent for Vodafone and 22 per cent for Orange. However a takeover, or merger, with T-Mobile would add in another 15 per cent.

Recent results have shown major losses for T-Mobile which have gone into the billions, dragging down the otherwise successful German parent company Deutsche Telekom.

IT PRO contacted all four companies but they all declined to comment.

Jennifer Scott is a former freelance journalist and currently political reporter for Sky News. She has a varied writing history, having started her career at Dennis Publishing, working in various roles across its business technology titles, including ITPro. Jennifer has specialised in a number of areas over the years and has produced a wealth of content for ITPro, focusing largely on data storage, networking, cloud computing, and telecommunications.

Most recently Jennifer has turned her skills to the political sphere and broadcast journalism, where she has worked for the BBC as a political reporter, before moving to Sky News.