Plans to merge Deutsche Telekom’s and France Telecom’s UK mobile units could be delayed by a regulatory move which would impose caps on the amount of spectrum operators can own, according to a report in The Guardian. The deal, which has been agreed between the UK government and the country’s five mobile networks, could involve the Office of Fair Trading calling on the European Union to allow UK authorities to investigate the proposed merger. The Guardian notes that this may result in T-Mobile and Orange selling mobile spectrum or the merger being delayed.

Successful completion of the merger – plans for which were initially announced last month – would unite two struggling mobile networks to create a powerful new market leader in the UK, one of Europe’s largest mobile markets. According to a recent Snapshot analysis from Wireless Intelligence, the deal will create a mobile heavyweight with 32.4 million connections (retail and wholesale) and a 43 percent market share. This would push current market-leader O2 UK into second place (a 27 percent share), Vodafone UK into third (24 percent) and would leave 3 UK a very distant fourth with less than a 6 percent share of the market. Read more on Snapshot’s take on the ‘T-Orange’ deal here.