OFT inquiry into Orange/T-Mobile merger is welcome

Prepare to hear Orange and T-Mobile grumble about how the Office of Fair Trading could save itself time and bother by allowing Brussels alone to investigate the merger of their UK ­operations. Isn't it obvious, they will ask, that the deal is good for consumers? Well, no, it's not. A combination of the third and fourth largest mobile telephone provider would deliver a market-leading share of 37%. Add Virgin Mobile, which runs on T-Mobile's network, and you get 40%. That might be tolerable if, as Orange and T-Mobile claim, the cost savings arising from the deal will be recycled into investment. And maybe Tesco and Asda, with their "virtual" networks, are adequate price policemen. And maybe 40% will become 35% once Vodafone and O2 bite back. But let's have the debate thrashed out in the market where it matters.