Three & Vodafone to merge

[JAC]

Interesting to see how this goes seeing as I’m with Voxi who are a parent company of Vodafone.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/dec/05/vodafone-and-three-given-approval-to-merge

[Madchatthew]

So is Vodafone service cheaper than Voxi or are they priced the same?

[phenomlab]

@Madchatthew No, it’s the other way round. Voxi are a virtual network on the back of Vodafone (and owned by the same company). Virgin Mobile are the same in the sense that they are also virtual.

[phenomlab]

@JAC Interesting footnote

Vodafone will own 51% of the merged company, and is likely to buy out Hutchison’s 49% stake after three years.

Makes me curious as to what happens to Three (Hutchinson Telecom) after that…

[JAC]

@phenomlab already pretty much agreeing to sell off their half of the company, seems a strange move doesn’t it.

[phenomlab]

@JAC I suspect this will be a “portion” of the company - for example, the consumer side which sells mobile phone contracts, which they keep the commercial arm as Hutchison Telecom.

https://www.ckhutchisontelecom.com/en/business/our_businesses.php

[phenomlab]

Also interesting is the comment that prices will not rise. In my view, that will be exactly the opposite. Sure, everything well be OK until the three year honeymoon period is over, but you only have to look at the comments below to see other people’s perspectives.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp3z96x0199o

[JAC]

@phenomlab said in Three & Vodafone to merge:

Also interesting is the comment that prices will not rise. In my view, that will be exactly the opposite. Sure, everything well be OK until the three year honeymoon period is over

I think you’re spot on with this Mark. It will last so long and then they’ll bump the prices up. I don’t mind a small rise but it’ll be interesting to see how long they hold their prices for.

I wonder also how companies like Smarty who piggyback off Three are going to fare, will themselves and others like Voxi be put on throttled speeds etc.

[phenomlab]

@JAC Good thought - I am also a Smarty customer - have a couple of SIMS for parents-in-law.

[JAC]

@phenomlab you’d hope they’d give their best speeds but we’ll wait and see. Coverage should be better at least, not that there’s anything wrong with it but I’d expect more 5G coverage over time.