Telecoms group BT has bought the mobile operator EE for £12.5bn.
The takeover creates a communications giant covering fixed-line phones, broadband, mobile and TV. Existing EE shareholders Orange and Deutsche Telekom will sell 100% of their shares.
Deutsche Telekom will hold 12% in the new combined business and have a seat on the board.
Orange will receive a 4% stake, as well as about £3.4bn in cash.
The deal combines BT's 10 million retail customers and EE' 24.5 million direct mobile subscribers.
BT shares rose more than 5% on the London market to their highest level since 2001, the year the company withdrew from mobile operations by spinning of O2.
BT says it plans to raise £1bn through a placing of new shares to fund the deal.
Continue reading the main storyIt said in a statement: "The combination of EE and BT will provide customers with innovative, seamless services that combine the power of fibre broadband with wi-fi and advanced mobile capabilities."
Competition issuesEE leads the market in 4G, the fastest mobile bandwidth. It said on Thursday its 4G customer base had risen to 7.7 million subscribers.
EE chief executive Olaf Swantee said: "Today's announcement will ensure the UK remains at the forefront of the mobile revolution, bringing even more innovation and investment in world leading connectivity for our customers."
However, rivals TalkTalk and Vodafone have already said BT is grabbing too much of the market and have called for regulators to force BT to spin off its Openreach fixed line division, which enables other telecoms companies to access its network.
Vodafone chief executive Vittorio Colao said: "Ideally, a structural separation of Openreach would be optimal."
Mr Patterson said he did not expect competition authorities to impose stringent remedies and the deal would need to be scrutinised in Britain, rather than Brussels.
SavingsBT says that within four years, the deal will be saving it £360m a year in terms of operating costs and capital investment.
It added that by combining the two businesses, it should be able to generate an extra £1.6bn a year in sales.
BT chief executive Gavin Patterson said: "This is a major milestone for BT as it will allow us to accelerate our mobility plans and increase our investment in them."
He said the money being spent on the deal did not affect its plans ahead of the multi-billion pound Premier League rights auction, where it is in tough competition with rival Sky.
The mobile phone market is expected to consolidate further. Hutchison Whampoa, which owns rival Three, is said to be in talks to buy O2.
There has been speculation that Virgin may tie up with Vodafone.
Analysis: Matthew Wall, Business reporterBT's purchase of mobile operator EE is part of its grand plan to become a digital publisher along the lines of Netflix, Amazon and Sky, not just a network provider.
It will now be able to distribute its content and services via TV, desktop and mobile, so that customers can access what they want, when and however they want it. Add those three services to BT's fixed-line operation, and the company now becomes a big player in what is called "quad-play".
As our smartphone screens get bigger, we're watching more video and TV on the move, and these big files need fast download speeds. So EE's lead in the high-speed 4G mobile space gives BT a big boost.
And as competition for eyeballs in a multimedia, on-demand world intensifies, an extra 7.7 million customers to sell stuff to always helps. Rooting out duplication in the combined companies could save hundreds of millions a year, says BT.
Will those savings be passed on to customers in the form of lower bills? Almost certainly, if BT is serious about becoming a global media powerhouse.
Vodafone is to offer broadband services to UK households from this spring.
But at present, it is still fighting to return to growth. On Thursday, it reported that UK revenues showed a slight rise (0.9%) in the last three months of 2014, while European sales were still declining.
Meanwhile, Sky has also announced the launch of its own mobile service, through a deal with O2's network.
Dan Ridsdale, analyst at Edison Investment Research, said: "In the space of a few months, the UK telecoms landscape has changed enormously. As the majors fill in the gaps in their offerings, competition to offer multi-play bundles is going to step up significantly.
"Whether this will be beneficial for consumers is a very different question. The bundling of services makes it much more difficult to compare pricing, while more premium TV content is likely to move away from free to air."
The BT-EE deal is expected to be finalised by March next year, subject to approval by shareholders of BT and scrutiny from the Competition and Markets Authority.
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