(Telecompaper) TeliaSonera and Telenor have agreed to merge their Danish operations into a new 50-50 joint venture. The two already cooperate on infrastructure sharing. Merging their business operations will create the leading operator in Denmark with 3.5 million mobile subscribers and an around 40 percent market share. The companies said the intense competitive pressure in the Danish market in recent years has limited their ability to invest. By combining their assets and customer bases, the operators expect to generate significant cost savings, freeing up cash for investment. Annual efficiency gains are estimated at at least DKK 800 million, with the full effect to be felt from 2019. The largest areas of synergy are envisaged to be distribution, sales and marketing and call centres, administrative costs, network and IT. Integration costs are expected to total DKK 800 million during 2015-2017. The new board of the company will have three representatives of each operator and a chairman agreed by both. A recruitment process will find the CEO of the joint venture. Closing of the deal is expected in 2015, pending regulatory approval from the European Commission.