BT Shareholders Approve £12.5bn EE Takeover

BT shareholders have overwhelmingly approved the purchase of EE for £12.5bn, paving the way for the takeover to be completed before the end of the 2015-16 financial year, subject to regulatory clearance.

At a general meeting in London, 99.73 percent of investors voted in favour of the cash and shares deal, which will see EE’s current owners Deutsche Telekom own 12 percent of BT and Orange four percent.

In a presentation to its shareholders, BT said the takeover would increase the company’s size by a quarter and allow it to offer converged services to customers without any distinction between fibre and mobile networks.

BT EE takeover

“Combining the UK’s most advanced 4G network with the most extensive superfast broadband network will help BT to deliver innovative, seamless services that combine the power of fibre broadband with Wi-Fi and advanced mobile capabilities,” said the company. “This will help BT to be the network of choice for voice and data connectivity, wherever customers are, and whichever device they choose to use.

“The principal benefit of the Acquisition is the creation of the UK’s leading fixed-mobile converged communications provider in the UK.”

EE has 9.3 million 4G customers and its network reaches 87 percent of the UK population. Overall it has 30.9 million mobile and fixed connections on its network, a figure which includes M2M and customers of its Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) partners.

However, despite the acquisition of an expensive mobile network, BT still plans to press ahead with its own plans for a mobile network. It agreed a MVNO partnership with EE last year and already offers 4G to businesses, but hopes to offer mobile services to consumers using a combination of the MVNO and the BT Wi-Fi network.