Orange and Deutsche Telekom, joint owners of EE, have put plans to float the UK’s largest mobile operator on hold.

Sources said the two companies believe they would secure a higher valuation for the business, of which they both own 50 per cent, if they wait for 4G services to take off.

Orange and Deutsche Telekom are understood to have been working on options for a partial sale of EE for more than a year. Financial Times (FT) reported in April last year that France Telecom (now Orange) appointed banks to advise it on options for EE.

Analysts have estimated that an enterprise value for EE could exceed £10 billion.

In a joint statement to Mobile World Live, Deutsche Telekom and Orange said both shareholders agreed “that the best option for value creation is to maintain the current ownership structure for the time being,” and they “look forward to continuing their co-operation in the UK market”.

A Deutsche Telekom representative told Bloomberg there is no timeline on what will happen next but the company “will no longer pursue an opening of EE’s capital or an IPO”.

FT speculated that the decision may encourage private equity groups hoping to launch bids of their own for EE. It was reported in summer 2012 that private equity groups Apax and KKR were in talks to buy EE.

EE was formed by the merger of Orange UK and T-Mobile UK in 2010, with France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom jointly owning the company.

It was the first operator to launch 4G services in the UK — in October 2012 — and recently passed the two million subscriber mark for the service, with uptake accelerating. This puts it significantly ahead of Vodafone, O2 and 3UK.

EE has been linked to a bid from US number-two operator AT&T but is thought to be the US giant’s second choice behind Vodafone. Bloomberg reported in September that EE’s parent companies had slowed their efforts to dispose of their shares in the UK operator in the belief that AT&T was preparing to enter the European market.