Three and O2 merger

Looks like 3 and O2 will be one

In reference to www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms...:

Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing is to create a new leader in Britain�s mobile phone industry after agreeing to buy O2 for more than £10bn.

Telefonica, the owner of O2, will announce a merger with Mr Li's Hutchison Whampoa, which runs Three, on Friday morning, The Telegraph understands.

The deal will create Britain�s biggest mobile phone company with 32m customers, overtaking EE and Vodafone, with 27m and 20m respectively.

Telefonica and Hutchison Whampoa have held talks since BT ended discussions to buy O2 last month in order to make a £12.5bn move for EE.

It is believed that Telefonica and Hutchison Whampoa want to present their deal to competition authorities in Brussels at the same time as BT unveils its potential purchase in a bid to ease fears of a reduction in the number of UK operators. This would allow them to argue that BT is shaking up the industry and would ease fears of a reduction in the number of UK operators.

European authorities are likely to approve the O2 sale.

So AYCE on o2?

I've already got it .

300 minutes to mobile networks (hardly use that); unlimited to landlines (used frequently) except premium charged ones; unlimited texts except for 5-digit numbered ones; unlimited data. Less than £17pm.

http://www.o2online.ie/o2/three-and-o2/

Don't know if their Irish websites have been updated as part of this or it's some other deal.

Edited by deleted (Fri 23-Jan-15 00:13:57)

That's O2 Ireland's website. (Look in "About O2" at the bottom). Three bought them in 2013/14.

On 24 June 2013, it was announced that Hutchison Whampoa would acquire Telef�nica's Irish mobile operations for �780 million, to be merged into 3 Ireland upon completion of the deal. The deal was cleared by the EU in June 2014. On 15 July 2014, the acquisition was fully completed.

Edited by RobertoS (Fri 23-Jan-15 00:21:02)

O2 in Ireland was purchased by Hutchison Whampoa back in 2013 with the deal finally completing after EU approval in mid 2014. It is nothing to do with the UK O2 being sold.

BT set up an Irish mobile operator which was separated from BT within the main O2. O2 was purchased by Telefonica who then separated and sold of Ireland.

Also wonder if 3 will continue allowing Giffgaff to operate on the network?

If they purchase O2 then I would guess GiffGaff would be included in that deal.

Why would Telefonica want to retain a small MVNO?

But as Giffgaff is community run and an offshoot I do wonder if 3 would continue running it or whether it would be shut down.

They are confident that the takeover will not be blocked in the UK or EU or they would not be spending millions on the approach, due diligence, negotiations &c.

With that, it is being seen that BT will have an easy regulatory ride with their EE purchase especially as they do not currently have a mobile network. And BT shares are on the up again today - so far by 2.4%.

Wonder if it will continue to run under the o2 name, or everything get merged into Three

They might change to a brand name that Hutchison Whampoa used to use. That would be amusing, though perhaps a little confusing.



_{OK every/anyone, I know they can't.}

Edited by RobertoS (Fri 23-Jan-15 16:48:30)

O3 ?

Or 32.

H2O (for Hutchison)?

Summing it up, Whampoa 5O perhaps

Maybe the future is ...?

Oi!
Wassit gorra do wiv broadband guv?

Linky .

Who are you, the forum police?

Like "Rabbit"!? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_(telecommunicati...

I only just noticed and felt like making a jokey post. Took me a while to dream up such a collection of words .

Today's Times:-

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Whenever Hong Kong cartoonists want to depict the city�s most powerful tycoon, they show Li Ka-shing in blue spandex, red cape and external underpants (Leo Lewis writes). On the comparatively rare occasions that an investment appears to have floundered, the cape droops. Overwhelmingly, though, he is shown as a soaring, invincible streak on the skyline.

For more than two decades, Asia�s richest man has been known simply as �Superman�, celebrated in a city that worships the arts of wealth creation and investment for his uncanny ability to back a winner.
Between his two main companies, Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong, he owns significant tracts of Hong Kong, has a huge stake in its electricity supply and holds the world�s most powerful positions in container port management and health and beauty retail, including Britain�s Superdrug. When he has ventured away from bricks and mortar, his astonishing luck has held: he was an early investor Facebook, Siri and Skype long before they were worth billions.

The �rags to riches� clich� was rarely so apt. When he was just 12 his family fled southern China to escape Japanese bombs; two years later his father, a teacher, died suddenly from tuberculosis. Mr Li sold his dead father�s clothes for cash to feed the family. Without finishing school, he worked in a factory making watch-straps. Seven years later, he started a company that made plastic flowers for sale to Europe, just as demand began to surge.

As his wealth grew, he invested in property, factories and, ultimately, in Hutchison, at that time a fading British trading house. Future investments would include oil, ports and infrastructure. The 86-year-old is now worth $33 billion.

The Times - Sat, 24 Jan 2015

A smart operator! But the inside story could be interesting.

I wouldn't think Giffgaff's speeds would mix well with three's customer perception of high speeds (in my research), Although giffgaff is slow largely because O2 is, so merging with 3 could improve this. However, out of BT EE and Vodafone, the O2 3 will still have the least spectrum, so I'm not holding my breath.

In reference to www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2924738/Sky-seeks-holy-gra...:

Sky seeks 'holy grail' with own mobile service: Broadcaster may join new £10bn merged giant to offer total package

There's also talk that Vodafone might buy VM Cable from Liberty Media, *or Sky!!!*, as they will otherwise become the smallest operator in the UK - their home market.

Edited by RobertoS (Sun 25-Jan-15 00:37:30)

Is there s definitive list of spectrum allocation per network?

This is my concern: Three and O2 combined will be come the largest network. But they will have the lease spectrum with non-continuous chunks. I.E they will have multiple 10Mhz chunks for 4G but might not able to turn these into 20Mhz chunks to improve capacity.

I think BT buying EE means that Relish should start to ramp up deployment to compete. Because if BT offer a Relish like service on 2600Mhz as do it nation wide then Relish will loose out.

I can't see it being long before Vodafone is bought. Perhaps by either Three, BT or Virgin Media (Liberty Global). Actually maybe PCCW, Relish's owner should buy Vodafone... that could be interesting for the market.

Details at The Register

Vodafone bought? I don't think that will happen.

63 Billion

I fail to see how this can work on paper...

3 and EE have a RAN share (MBNL) for the 3G part of each network. They have recently-ish agreed to allow a 4G site (not RAN) share.

O2 and VF have a RAN share (Cornerstone) for the respective 2G and 3G network (dont know if this extends to 4G)

For either 3 or O2 to to divest either of those agreements will significantly impact the respective network, aka a really really bad idea!!

Access to O2's 2G spectrum will benefits 3 users and access to the 3 3G network will benefit O2 users for data. This would only be a shared PLMN which is not as a smooth as it could be, hence Orange & T-Mobile moving from a shared PLMN to a single PLMN code for EE and both carriers underneath.

They have no benefits to derive from contiguous spectrum, neither operator has a fixed carrier, with VF buying C and W and the BT/EE marriage they will be left to the side for backhaul.