Posted 5 May 2023
Vodafone and Three merger - Bad news
thetimes.co.uk/art…gt8
The dreaded day is inching closer. And it is not for the benefit of consumers, surely. Expect price rises and even poorer services. Both are notorious for that,
Have you noticed Three network's all inclusive deals were £16 pm and are now £24 ? Their cheaper MVNO, Smarty, is now £16 all in ! A major shift of the benchmark bar. Only a matter of time when others start following suit.
Ripoff Britain continues, and am sure watchdog might wave the deal through, to keep friends in the square mile happy.
The dreaded day is inching closer. And it is not for the benefit of consumers, surely. Expect price rises and even poorer services. Both are notorious for that,
Have you noticed Three network's all inclusive deals were £16 pm and are now £24 ? Their cheaper MVNO, Smarty, is now £16 all in ! A major shift of the benchmark bar. Only a matter of time when others start following suit.
Ripoff Britain continues, and am sure watchdog might wave the deal through, to keep friends in the square mile happy.
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25 Comments
sorted byThe govt seems to be all for this deal to push their 5G everywhere idea. Personally I don't see why a merger needs to happen for this - we have things like the shared rural network to make more remote areas viable, and 5G in major cities is already rolled out, with more 3G/4G sites due to be upgraded.
This deal will harm competition severely with no benefits to consumers. In fact there is less incentive to provide a good service competitively priced with lack of choice.
Looking at the BT/EE merger, Plusnet and BT Mobile MVNOs both shutting down. With the VMO2 merger, Virgin Mobile (UKs largest MVNO) shutting down and it wouldn't surprise me to see Tesco and Giffgaff have changes in future. However, both those deals are not the same as it is more focused on offering quad play (broadband, TV, phone, mobile) - this merger is 2 direct competitors with their own infrastructure.
This has a far bigger impact - in future when MVNOs go to negotiate a new wholesale agreement (ID, Talkmobile etc), they would only have 3 networks to go to. Three is often the cheapest, but a combined Three/Voda would allow the combined group to charge higher prices closer to the rates EE and VMO2 charge - this likely means higher prices at every MVNO.
Furthermore, the network owned MVNOs (VOXI, SMARTY) have no incentive to compete with each other.
Something worth noting, Hutchinson (a Hong Kong based company) are Three's owner, and there are concerns about the company's connections to China. I am surprised there is no political concern yet about Hutchinson owning 49% of a bigger telco with more importance, but this could be further scrutinised if the deal progresses. (edited)
In the past BT had a share in O2 didnt they ?
Its all a circle of life, and a game to keep the rich rich.
Now I'll have to leave Vodafone because of 3
And that's a bad deal for unlimited everything?
Even inflation is not running at 50 percent. Go figure.
Before brexit, they were championing FREE EU roaming as a selling point and advertising to the hilt. And as soon as they got a chance ? Mutual back scratching with their EU counterparts. the so called costs evens out when continental clients visit UK. Its the cusotmers who pay for it eventually.
Please convince me that its not a cartelised racket, under the very noses of our tootless tigers (Regulators). ANd please dont give hte arguments about free market etc.