UK Regulators Choose 4 Over 3 Again

Over in England today, UK regulators have spent the last year looking at the proposed combination of Hutchison Whampoa’s Three and Telefonica’s O2. The verdict: they don’t much like it, actually, and are now launching a full in-depth investigation. 

The deal would of course reduce the UK mobile field from four to three, with Vodafone and EE making up the other two legs of the three-legged stool. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority fears “long term damage” and indicated that “the remedies offered fall well short of what would be required” to prevent it.  Whether Hutchison and Telefonica will raise the ante in hopes of allaying those fears isn’t yet clear.

The question of how many mobile operators is the right balance between consumers and consolidation has vexed western markets for quite a few years now. In fact, for the UK’s CMA, it’s more troubling for regulators to go from 4 to 3 in mobile than it is to let the incumbent BT roar back into the game with the purchase of EE, which they greenlighted earlier this year.

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Categories: Mergers and Acquisitions · Wireless