(Associated Press via NewsEdge) Deutsche Telekom said it will buy France Telecom's mobile phone unit and the Internet company Orange Netherlands in a deal that will see it sell its Spanish unit Ya.com to the French company.
Deutsche Telekom said in a statement it will receive 320 million euros ($432.42 million) from France Telecom for Ya.com but it did not disclose how much it would pay for the French company's wireless unit or for Orange Netherlands.
Dow Jones Newswires, citing a person close to the deal, said the purchase price for Orange would be just more than 1.3 billion euros ($1.76 billion).
The deal is subject to regulatory approval and the works council of Orange Netherlands. If successful, it would combine Telekom and Orange, Netherlands' two smallest wireless operators, making them second behind market leader Royal KPN and just ahead of Vodafone.
Orange has about 1.9 million cell phone customers and 612,000 Internet users. T-Mobile, the cell phone unit of Deutsche Telekom, has 2.5 million customers in the Netherlands.
The purchase of Ya.com unit will further narrow the number of high speed Internet service providers in Spain to just four. Already, Ya, Telefonica SA, Jazztel PLC and Ono provide the service.
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