O2 will be bought by 3?

[cyrillicguy]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2922769/Three-swallows-02-10bn-phone-takeover-Giant-bought-s...

[jnm21]

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@MI5 wrote:
ps. Currently Three uses EE for voice if there is no 3g signal. It used to be O2 but it changed to EE so I guess that arrangement won't be required anymore?

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My understanding is that 3 stopped the 2G roaming with EE in most areas.  My phone went onto 2G only (dual sim & the 3G got allocated to the other sim) & my 3 sim would not register on any network.  I have great EE coverage (2G, 3G & 4G).  I see the biggest issue being the fact that 3 are contracted to share with EE & o2 are contracted to share with Vodafone - a VF big wig pointed this out in a statement recently.  Probably all posturing; you sell us X spectrum for Y & we'll rip up the mast share contract.  I wonder if there is exclusivity in those contracts (there must be, otherwise '3o2' users can use all networks while others can only use half would be a cracking marketing opportunity).

[darrengf]

Good Morning all, just to shed a few lights to things.

Three doesn't have a contract with EE, Three only has a contract with Orange to use the Orange Masts. Even though Orange and T-Mobile masts come under the umbrella of EE, Three are only allowed to use Orange Masts which work on a different frequency band.

As we know three told EE which masts they would still like to use in certain areas also as most of the Orange masts were also decommissioned and the T-Mobile ones were left up, Three customer could no longer bounce on to EE 2G. So when a MBNL Mast is upgraded, you now get EE 4G, EE 3G (Ex Orange or T-Mobile 3G Band and T-Mobile 2G (EE 2G) and Three 3G and Three 4G 1800mhz at present (Which is Ex Orange or T-Mobile band which they had to give up to be able to merge) as a rule of thumb.

Also regarding 999 Calls, They work with any 2G / 3G networks with no sim.  The law says that all current Mobile phones have to be able to make 999 calls with or without a sim and with or without its home network as long as there is a network in the area available.

If you go over on the snake pass, there are places on there that there is no networks at all and the phone will not do anything, it will say no singal, no network or call failed.

Emergency services them selves use something called Tetra which o2 used to own and install many years ago, however this is soon to be replaced as it never really took of and mobile phones now get more signals in more places. The Emergency services do use mobile networks for the services but are prioritised over the networks and can also request a network to close certain areas and masts down for consumer but they will still work fine due to the sim Identification from what i know.

Regarding the Three Merger in Ireland with O2. The shops have already started the transition over to Three and lot of o2 branding has gone to Three, The logo on peoples handset will soon start to change to Three ie as well.

Three customer care that was over seas has now started to be transferred over the Limerick three / o2 call center in Ireland (was this something to do with Telefonica deal in selling? who knows, but its been a positive move.

If Three does buy o2, its not going to happen any time soon and could take a further 18 Months, its got to go passed EU commission first and there will lots of red tape.

From what ive heard, Telefonica also still want to keep 20% of O2 so its possible that the o2 branding may stay in the uk, but we  prob will just get a much bigger network by allowing us to use each others mast which to me is a good thing and not a bad one. Three get to bounce traffic on 2G where possible and o2 gets plenty of 3G.

The cornerstone with Vodafone and o2 will still continue and even though there not happy from rumours on the web, there is too much to loose if they both now pull out. The East side of the uk as well which o2 look after is much further ahead with 4G than the west which is what Vodafone are doing again info from the web.

The MBNL with EE and Three will also continue as the agreement is working extremely well with both.

18 Months time may be another story, but buy then it will be prob end of 2016 and all networks much further on with 2G, 3G and 4G. Then we will be starting the new plans for 5G lol.

Mobile Networks is just one merry go round lol

Hope the above helps

[jnm21]

You may be correct, however my information came from this article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/telecoms/11394107/Vodafon... - in that the Vodafone CEO states: "O2 has contractual obligations on network sharing with us. They should respect the obligations. Clearly Hutch had had an agreement with EE."

If you mean that the three contract with Orange is not with EE, to most EE is Orange (including some EE/Orange/T-mobile staff), but I believe the correct picture is that Orange's owners own 50% of EE & EE manage the Orange company.  Orange & T-mobile are still two companies, but just managed by the same company, EE.  This would mean that any Orange contract with Three is effectively an EE agreement with Three as EE would have to meet Orange's contractual obligations.

I cannot see EE allowing 3o2 to use their masts (i.e. masts which they control) & Vodafone's (they would surely lose market share to that proposition, especially in rural areas).  The VF CEO states the same view: "The two are not compatible"

[Anonymous]

According to this article in the Telegraph, the O2 brand could still be retained following the proposed takeover:

"Ronan Dunne, O2’s chief executive, revealed that the two sides in the £10.3bn takeover have yet to discuss whether the combined mobile group would run a multi-brand strategy in the UK. However, he pointed to O2's number one position for customer satisfaction".