O2, Three and 5G Future

[Cleoriff]

Yesterday the news broke that the merger of Three and O2 had been blocked by the EU

(discussed here) http://community.o2.co.uk/t5/Off-topic/O2-Three-Merger-Has-Been-Blocked/m-p/971211

The decision to block the merger has been criticised by many even though the UK's communications regulator Ofcom, had argued that allowing the number of players in the market to fall from four to three would inevitably lead to higher prices, poorer service or both.

There is much discussion about the way BT and EE were allowed to merge The reason it was not blocked was apparently because BT was not really a player in mobile. But its rivals point out that the combined firms now have control of 40% of mobile airwaves and the lion's share of the UK's fixed broadband infrastructure

Concerns are also raised in this article about the future of 5G. Europe has lost it's lead in this development

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-36267740

[gmarkj]

It does indicate that Liberty/Virgin were/are trying to get a toe in the mobile market by being a network rather than a virtual network.
It also shows that they consider buying a network outright is a better (more cost effective?) way of doing that rather than investing in their own kit...

[Bambino]

Sounds as if everything is still up in the air, but it looks as if Liberty Global is the main juggler. It's possible that they may be leaning towards O2 as it already has more customers in the UK than Vodafone, but that's just a guess.

[Curr946]

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@gmarkj wrote:

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@Cleoriff wrote:

I understand that @gmarkj though I did read (ages ago now) that Vodafone and Virgin were actually in favour of the O2/EE merger? Needless to say I can no longer find that article...only this one about Virgin and the forum mentions Vodafone http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/1/2016/02/05/virgin_gives_its_blessing_to_o2three_merger/

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Yeah, just found that (and the article) as well as this piece from the Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/03/11/virgin-media-signals-mobile-ambitions-in-three-o2-fal...

Interestingly enough the Telegraph piece says that Liberty were looking at an acquisition/merger with Vodafone. If they are now looking at o2 instead it is a bit of a turnaround and suggests that o2 is a better option...

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or an easier target