topic Re: Three UK's owner is reportedly plotting a £9 billion bid for O2 in Discussions & Feedback

Three UK's owner is reportedly plotting a £9 billion bid for O2

viridis — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 09:07:23 GMT

"Telefonica-owned O2 has quietly become the subject of interest from Three UK owner Hutchison Whampoa. According to The Sunday Times, the UK mobile market could quite soon shrink from four major operators to just three, after talks between the two companies reportedly progressed to a point where Hutchison Whampoa is ready to make a £9 billion bid for Britain's second-biggest carrier."

http://www.engadget.com/2015/01/18/hutchison-whampoa-o2-acquisition/

Re: Three UK's owner is reportedly plotting a £9 billion bid for O2

MI5 — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 09:12:37 GMT

Quietly ????
It's been rumoured for the last 2 years !!

Re: Three UK's owner is reportedly plotting a £9 billion bid for O2

Cleoriff — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 09:13:09 GMT

As BT chose EE rather than O2 in its takeover... I suppose it was only a matter of time before someone showed an interest in O2..

Mind you it's surprising to me ...as until I read that article I presumed O2 was a much bigger company than 3?

Re: Three UK's owner is reportedly plotting a £9 billion bid for O2

MI5 — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 09:15:41 GMT

@Cleoriff wrote:
Mind you it's surprising to me ...as until I read that article I presumed O2 was a much bigger company than 3?

As we discussed last week - Hutchinson Whampoa are massive worldwide.

Re: Three UK's owner is reportedly plotting a £9 billion bid for O2

viridis — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 09:26:20 GMT

Indeed they are.

Re: Three UK's owner is reportedly plotting a £9 billion bid for O2

Bambino — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 09:36:02 GMT

I'm not so sure if a Three takeover of O2 would be a good thing for Three customers. They get a fair few perks at the moment. I'm wondering if those perks would be extended to O2 customers, or if Three would have to cut some of their offers back?

On another note, if BT buy EE, I'm also wondering what would happen to Virgin Mobile, as they piggyback on the EE network. Virgin Media are major BT competitors in other areas, so how might it affect the mobile branch of the business?

Re: Three UK's owner is reportedly plotting a £9 billion bid for O2

Cleoriff — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 09:43:39 GMT

@MI5 wrote:
@Cleoriff wrote:
Mind you it's surprising to me ...as until I read that article I presumed O2 was a much bigger company than 3?
As we discussed last week - Hutchinson Whampoa are massive worldwide.

So we did....I still forgot to link those with 3 ....(in todays post)

Re: Three UK's owner is reportedly plotting a £9 billion bid for O2

Beenherebefore — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 10:15:39 GMT

And the overall group is very big with extensive interests......eg Superdrug and Felixstowe Port

http://www.hutchison-whampoa.com/en/global/home.php

Re: Three UK's owner is reportedly plotting a £9 billion bid for O2

Anonymous — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 10:24:53 GMT

It's been a fairly hot topic on giffgaff's forums recently, as many are worried that Three would see giffgaff as being surplus to their requirements. I've just left Three because of issues with dropped calls, but they would bring in an excellent 3G network if such a takeover were to take place. So it should be good news for O2 customers, or am I missing something?

Re: Three UK's owner is reportedly plotting a £9 billion bid for O2

MI5 — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 10:40:59 GMT

I use O2, giffgaff and Three because they all offer something slightly different that benefits me (unlimited data, free 08 calls, signal strength etc) so if all the benefits were combined into one sim, it would make my life a bit easier

Re: Three UK's owner is reportedly plotting a £9 billion bid for O2

Anonymous — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 11:34:20 GMT

I would welcome this providing 3's perks are available to O2 customers. I was with 3 until a couple of weeks ago and I was very happy with them and only changed back to O2 for 4G and coverage at my Mum's address.

Re: Three UK's owner is reportedly plotting a £9 billion bid for O2

Bambino — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 12:39:31 GMT

@MI5 wrote:
I use O2, giffgaff and Three because they all offer something slightly different that benefits me (unlimited data, free 08 calls, signal strength etc) so if all the benefits were combined into one sim, it would make my life a bit easier

I think the $64,000 question will be will they still offer unlimited data, and usage abroad to many countries for no extra charge, and free 08 calls to 23 million + customers? Could they afford to do that?

Re: Three UK's owner is reportedly plotting a £9 billion bid for O2

nevzy31 — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 12:46:53 GMT

As long as the coverage is better than what O2 is giving us at the moment it can only be a good thing hopefully

Re: Three UK's owner is reportedly plotting a £9 billion bid for O2

MI5 — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 13:09:51 GMT

@Bambino wrote:
I think the $64,000 question will be will they still offer unlimited data, and usage abroad to many countries for no extra charge, and free 08 calls to 23 million + customers? Could they afford to do that?

With an extra 23+ million customers their revenue stream will go through the roof.......

Therefore, my answer is YES

Re: Three UK's owner is reportedly plotting a £9 billion bid for O2

jonsie — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 13:12:07 GMT

Surely, with O2 now sinking faster than the titanic, a change to 3 would be welcomed. O2 need some major investment to get back to what it once was. I for one would be really happy should this eventually become something more than paper gossip.

Re: Three UK's owner is reportedly plotting a £9 billion bid for O2

Anonymous — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 23:28:47 GMT

Having tried Three out recently, I found their 3G network coverage put O2's to shame. Overall coverage with O2 I find is excellent (I've been with O2 for around 16 years). But I find O2 are let down by poor 3G coverage.

If Three were to take over O2, then with the coverage of O2 and the excellent 3G network of Three, then this sounds like a good thing. But my only concern would be, will Three's "All you can eat" unlimited data options be still available and if so, would they be able to cope with the increase in the users.

Re: Three UK's owner is reportedly plotting a £9 billion bid for O2

anticpated — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 23:36:30 GMT

My concerns are the aftersales support and jobs for UK workers. With the excpetion of maintenance jobs and other field work won't other jobs be lost in the harmonisation and restructuring of the company.

I don't trust 3 enough to join them willingly never mind by force.

Re: Three UK's owner is reportedly plotting a £9 billion bid for O2

Cleoriff — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 23:37:18 GMT

@Bambino wrote:

I think the $64,000 question will be will they still offer unlimited data, and usage abroad to many countries for no extra charge, and free 08 calls to 23 million + customers? Could they afford to do that?

If the usage abroad for no extra charge is part of the takeover deal, then from a purely selfish point of view I would welcome this... should it become reality

Re: Three UK's owner is reportedly plotting a £9 billion bid for O2

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 06:39:54 GMT

I use 3 for mobile internet, the coverage has improved over the last few years and does offer more areas of 3g than O2 which I use for the phone and some mobile internet.

O2s customer service is not what is was when in house and a recent query to 3 was handled in a much better fashion than O2 handled a phone problem my wife had ( in fact O2 failed to resolve )

I would not be unhappy to see O2 taken over by someone who wanted it and maybe restore to the O2 we knew and loved 3 would be a better bet than the other other (V) lot

Re: Three UK's owner is reportedly plotting a £9 billion bid for O2

RueDrBouree — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 07:20:15 GMT

A few months ago 3 compleated their purchase of O2 Ireland, so I guess we need to look at how 3 changed priceing etc in Ireland to get an idea of what might happen in the UK.

Telefonica must be in need of cash, I wonder will O2 Germany be up for sale next.

Just my view, but three aren't nearly as bad as they used to be!

Alex