Vodafone and the owner of Three UK have announced their intention to form the largest mobile phone operator in the UK. The companies intend to merge their operations based in the UK, resulting in a combined customer base of approximately 27 million.

However, the deal is still pending approval from regulators, and the Competition and Markets Authority will assess the advantages and disadvantages for consumers.

There is widespread expectation that the two companies would pool their available resources, with Three and Vodafone customers benefitting from wider coverage, particularly 5G availability.

With approval pending, both Vodafone and Three are promoting the idea that the merger helps, rather than reduces, competition – creating a third provider with big enough scale to complete with the UK’s two biggest providers, EE and O2.

The two providers have launched a joint micro-site supporting their bid.

Margherita Della Valle, Vodafone Group Chief Executive, said: “The merger is great for customers, great for the country and great for competition. It’s transformative as it will create a best-in-class – indeed best in Europe – 5G network, offering customers a superior experience.

Canning Fok, Group Co-Managing Director of CK Hutchison said: “Together, we will have the scale needed to deliver a best-in-class 5G network for the UK, transforming mobile services for our customers and opening up new opportunities for businesses across the length and breadth of the UK.

Upon completion of the Vodafone and Three merger, their combined market share will surpass that of EE and Virgin Media O2. While Virgin Media O2 currently serves around 24 million mobile customers, EE, which is owned by BT Group, has 20 million users. Vodafone and Three UK currently occupy the positions of the third and fourth largest mobile companies in the UK.

Under the terms of the merger, Vodafone will hold a 51% stake in the new company, with CK Hutchison, the owner of Three UK, retaining the remaining share. Vodafone and Three have assured customers that they can expect an enhanced network experience with improved coverage and reliability, without incurring any additional costs from the outset. Furthermore, the companies have committed to investing £11 billion in the development of 5G technology in the UK over the next decade.

Vodafone and CK Hutchison initially confirmed their merger discussions in the UK in October of last year. In May, Vodafone acknowledged the company’s underperformance and announced plans to reduce its workforce by 11,000 employees.

UK mobile networks have been instructed not to buy Huawei 5G equipment for their infrastructure by the Government, and must remove all existing Huawei equipment by 2027.

The landmark ruling came following an overturning of last year’s half-way decision to ban Huawei from the ‘Core’ UK network only – decided as a result of the UK National Cyber Security Centre’s 2019 findings that due to US sanctions affecting Google Android products, any Huawei chip manufacture removed from (Japanese-owned and UK-based) ARM could ‘increase the risk’ to the UK.

But Government MPs, the US and Australian Governments, and even some China-critical Human Rights Groups, argued the ruling did not go far enough – resulting in today’s announcement of a complete ban.

Huawei itself argues the criticism is a politically-motivated attack by Washington to hit the Chinese economy. The tech company is the World’s biggest provider of this kind of technology, as well as one of China’s most successful exporters.

China itself has undoubtedly faced more scrutiny from the international community in recent months, following news stories about the Chinese Government’s handling of Coronavirus, Hong Kong protests, the detention of Uighur Muslims in ‘reeducation’ camps, and the close connections between Huawei and the Chinese Communist Party.

All four of the UK’s big mobile providers (BT EE, Vodafone, Three and O2) all use Huawei equipment in their core networks, albeit to different extents. The decision also affects major broadband infrastructure providers, such as BT Openreach, and related ISPs.

In practice, this means 5G providers will be forced to look at alternatives from either Finnish-provider Nokia or Swedish provider Ericsson.

For IT expertise and support, please contact our team today.

Lineal have launched Lineal Business Mobile at the 2019 North Devon Show.

The annual North Devon Show, for which Lineal is a proud Sponsor, receives around 20,000 visitors each year. In addition to all the agricultural, culinary, craft, entertainment and community highlights of North Devon, visitors to the show might also have spotted Moby, Lineal’s Business Mobile Mascot.

Mike Matthews, Lineal’s Managing Director explained: “We’ve provided fixed-line business telecoms for a wide variety of local firms, but increasingly customers have asked us to deliver business mobile services too. We felt that the time was right, and we’re delighted to be able to add this to our extensive range of IT, software and communications services.”

“With attractive packages for unlimited business mobile voice minutes, unlimited SMS and Data bundles, – and even UK network-hopping SIM technology – we’re certain Lineal Business Mobile will be a popular option for businesses across the South West.”

Visitors to the show also undertook our retro Space-Invaders Challenge for the second year running, with a live Microsoft PowerBI ‘Highscore’ dashboard visualising the best arcade skills on display at the show! Congratulations to Martin P. from Barnstaple, who achieved the best highscore (1390) of this year’s challenge.

Despite uncertain weather at first, North Devon Show 2019 was a great success – see you next year!

For Devon IT Support and expertise – contact our team today!

Mobile phone coverage across the UK may be about to improve, with mobile operator O2 seeking a controversial merger with rival Three. 

The £10.25bn deal looks set to merge coverage patterns, potentially providing shared coverage to customers of either network in more rural areas, and comes just two weeks after BT took similar ownership of EE, the UK’s single biggest mobile operator.

Of course, whilst consumers may be set to enjoy improved signal from shared infrastructure, this may come at greater expense. Both the European Commission and Ofcom have raised numerous monopoly fears about the merger, arguing that fewer than four mobile providers in the UK risks less competitive pricing for customers.

Three’s parent company, CK Hutchinson, has attempted to counter by promising in a public letter to the Financial Times that prices will not increase for at least five years.

Unlike in many other EU countries, the UK does not enjoy a universal service obligation for mobile phone coverage data strength – lose signal in North Devon and no rival provider’s phone mast has any obligation to offer phone coverage for anything other than 999 emergency calls. Travel abroad and your phone will ‘roam’ to a friendly foreign network to ensure you always have the option of staying connected.

The solution to some coverage blindspots may be right around the corner in the form of fewer, bigger networks for everyone – but don’t rule out paying more for it.

For a wide range of IT services right here in North Devon, contact Lineal today: www.lineal.co.uk or 01271 375999