Vodafone/Three merger

The Competition Commission is "concerned" that the proposed merger between Vodafone and Three may result in less competition and higher prices for consumers. As it is crystal clear that prices will rise -- that's why they're merging -- then why doesn't the Commission DO something instead of waffling its"concern"?

This quango seems as toothless as Ofcom which agreed the crazy annual increase of 3.9% plus inflation -- threby producing last year's 14% windfall for the networks.

In reply to a post by Malwaremike:

then why doesn't the Commission DO something instead of waffling its"concern"?

They've just reported at the end of step 1. Step 2 (starting now) is to look at "remedies" to resolve the competitions concerns, one of those remedies could be to disallow the merger, others could be to offload radio spectrum to competitors, etc.

Toothless sounds about right, like most if not all the so-called regulators in this country. Acts when it suits them
I am using Smarty, which is run by Three and it is good value for me and the signal quality is great. I don't want to go back to Vodafone, the problem is who do you go to?
My main problem with Three is that it is Chinese, which is a bit of a shame.

As i said, who to go with if the merger do go ahead? EE is BT and to be honest I rather not use EE and O2 is part of Virgin.

Crazy

I never go to a network directly anyway, I would always go for an MVNO, normally cheaper.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

Toothless sounds about right, like most if not all the so-called regulators in this country.

Maybe read this article, and see if "toothless" is right. This is a legal process that takes a long time, that has just got to one of the first reporting stages.
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2024/09/cma-de...

We will see, but at the end of that article it says At present we think the odds are fairly good that a solution can be found that will enable the merger to proceed, albeit not without some sacrifice. So a merger is going to happen and i doubt the sacrifice will be enough to make any difference.,
As I said, Toothless.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

So a merger is going to happen and i doubt the sacrifice will be enough to make any difference.,

I'm not sure, but I know the EE and O2 would likely go to the courts if the merger was permitted without any remedies. The joined company would have an unfair mix of raido spectrum to start with.

@zyborg47
Choice is narrowing and depends on your usage. Most of our community group use very little data and live on our pensions so we use Lebara (Vodafone) or 1pmobile (EE). We were on Three until they ditched their 123 package. No Vodafone signal around our area so we had to cancel Lebara, EE blank elsewhere so best to buy a couple of £1 SIM from supermarket which will let you try signal strengths in your own area.

so you think when the merger happens that the 3 network will be turned off and everyone will be moved to vodafone

They are merging to save money, increase their network reach and reduce staff costs.

and not to put prices up.

In reply to a post by pyarwood:

so you think when the merger happens that the 3 network will be turned off and everyone will be moved to vodafone

???? I don't know how you conclude that from the post you are replying to.