A £15,000,000,000 ‘mega-merger’ between Vodafone and Three is set to go ahead – meaning each company will be under a combined 5G network in the UK.
And it’s good news for customers of the two phone giants, as prices won’t increase, according to Vodafone chief executive Margherita Della Valle.
She told BBC the merger will be ‘self-funded’ with ‘no extra costs from public funding and no extra cost for our customers’.
Vodafone and Three’s merger will create the UK’s largest mobile operator, with some 27 million customers.
Ms Della Valle added: ‘Consumers and businesses will enjoy wider coverage, faster speeds and better-quality connections across the UK, as we build the biggest and best network in our home market.’
Canning Fok, deputy chairman of CK Hutchison, which owns Three UK, said the merger would make sure ‘customers across the country benefit from world-beating network quality’.
The Three/Vodafone merger will make it the biggest phone provider in the UK – Virgin Media O2’s total stands at 24 million, followed by EE (part of the BT Group) with 20 million.
Previous communication from each company has said both Three and Vodafone hope the merger will be a big boost to the network service they offer their customers, especially for the rollout of 5G.
Robert Finnegan, CEO of Three UK, previously described the merger news as ‘a significant step in our efforts to create a business that will build the biggest and fastest 5G mobile network in the country.’
Several companies currently run their own networks off of Vodafone and Three’s infrastructure.
What smaller companies use Vodafone and Three’s network?
The following networks run off Vodafone’s cellular services:
- Asda Mobile
- Lebara Mobile
- Talkmobile
- Voxi
The following networks run off Three’s cellular services:
5G is rolling out further across the UK, with several more towns and cities being added to EE’s 5G network for the first time.
The introduction of 5G isn’t universally popular, with the installation of masts causing controversy in some places – but EE now plans to roll it out to 16 more town and cities.
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