Everything Everywhere Sets Out $2.4 Billion U.K. Mobile Web Plan
December 08, 2011, 8:00 PM ESTBy Jonathan Browning
Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Everything Everywhere, the U.K. mobile-phone venture of France Telecom SA and Deutsche Telekom AG, will invest more than 1.5 billion pounds ($2.4 billion) over three years to build a faster mobile Internet network.
The company will start making the investment before an auction for the essential frequencies, Chief Executive Officer Olaf Swantee said today. The U.K. government has delayed the auction, which is now scheduled for the end of 2012.
“We will do our bit to prepare the ground” for high-speed services by increasing investment in the network, Swantee said. “We are concerned that the U.K. was ahead of the curve but slipped behind.”
Everything Everywhere, based in London, became the largest mobile-phone operator in the U.K. after the merger of the two companies’ local units, overtaking Telefonica SA’s O2 division and Vodafone Group Plc. The company runs the Orange and T-Mobile brands in the U.K.
--Editors: Robert Valpuesta, David Risser.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Browning in London at jbrowning9@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kenneth Wong at kwong11@bloomberg.net
