BT Group's choice between buying Britain's number one or two mobile operator will come down to whether the broadband leader wants to stretch to purchase EE, a higher quality, larger company, or take the lower risk, simpler option presented by 02.The 168-year-old national fixed-line network operator has been in talks with Telefonica's 02 and separately with EE, which is owned by Orange and Deutsche Telekom, for nearly two weeks, people familiar with the situation said.Analysts value EE at 11 billion pounds ($17 billion), and 02 at 9.4 billion pounds.At issue is not only the price the seller would accept but also the structure, with regard to cash or shares or even asset swaps, and whether BT would undertake a rights issue, banking and sector sources said.
Orange SA, formerly France Telecom SA, is a France-based company that is engaged, principally, in the provision of integrated telecommunications services. Shares of ORAN fell by 1.05% or $-0.18/share to $16.97. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $11.65 and as high as $17.43. On average, 544043 shares of ORAN exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 231746.
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