T-Mobile Austria plans to appeal against the allocation of radio frequencies that will result from Hutchison Whampoa's take-over of Orange Austria, in a move that could derail the deal. The Deutsche Telekom unit fears it will be at a disadvantage to its competitors, who will have a headstart of up to a year in building next-generation LTE networks, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Sunday.

The ability to build an LTE network, which will offer data speeds up to 10 times those currently available, will be a key competitive advantage in Austria's hard-fought telecoms market.

The country's four operators are currently engaged in a price war as they fight over a population of just 8.4 million, with all-inclusive, no-strings offers available for as little as 7 euros ($9.22) per month.

The source said T-Mobile planned to file an appeal in the next days with Austria's higher administrative court against the decision of the country's telecom control commission, the TKK, for the transfer of frequencies that will accompany the merger.

A T-Mobile spokesman said he could not comment before a complaint was filed.

T-mobile wants an injunction that could delay or even derail Hutchison's agreed 1.3 billion euro take-over of Orange Austria, which will reduce the number of mobile operators in the country from four to three.

Copyright Reuters, 2012