German telecom service provider Freenet has signed an agreement to acquire Germany-based mobile service provider Debitel from investor Permira for €1.63 billion (US$2.6 billion). Reports state that the acquisition of Debitel creates a regional mobile provider with 19 million subscribers, the country’s third largest, outstripping the customer bases of both Telefonica’s O2 (12.5 million as of end Q4 2007, according to Wireless Intelligence) and Dutch provider KPN’s German unit E-Plus (14.8 million).

Financial investor Permira sold Debitel to Freenet after it abandoned plans for an IPO of the company. According to Bloomberg, Permira paid €640 million in 2004 to buy the Stuttgart, Germany-based Debitel, which resells the services of local mobile network providers T-Mobile, Vodafone and O2. Dow Jones Newswires reports that an O2 spokesman said he sees no direct impact on his company from the Freenet-Debitel merger because the new company lacks its own network.