T-Mobile and Orange to announce merger tomorrow?

Just in: Reuters is reporting T-Mobile UK and Orange are set to announce they are in exclusive talks to form a joint venture.

Whilst neither party will comment on the report, sources close to both companies said an official announcement could happen as early as tomorrow (Tuesday).

Reports over the weekend in the UK Sunday newspapers claimed Vodafone and O2′s parent company Telefonica had already submitted bids of £3.5bn for Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile UK business unit.

A combination of O2 and T-Mobile would bring around a 42% market share in the UK, Vodafone and T-Mobile 40%, whilst a joint venture with Orange could grab 37% of the market.