(Telecompaper) Hutchison 3G Austria (3 Austria) has completed the acquisition of Orange Austria from its owners Mid Europa Partners (65%) and France Telecom (35%). The transaction has a value of EUR 1.3 billion and took almost one year to be completed as the European Commission, Austrian cartel office BWB and Austrian telecom control commission TKK had to approve several parts of the acquisition. After completion, 3 Austria is now the third largest mobile operator in Austria behind A1 Telekom Austria and T-Mobile Austria. France Telecom reports that they get cash proceeds of around EUR 370 million for the sale of its equity stake. 3 Austria CEO Jan Trionow is happy that the acquisition has been completed and is looking forward to working with his new colleagues to deploy a nation-wide LTE network during the next two years. Part of the acquisition is the sale of frequencies, base station sites, Orange Austria's discount brand Yesss!, as well as certain intellectual property rights currently owned by Orange Austria to Telekom Austria. The value of this sale amounts to EUR 390 million.