Virgin Media O2 exposes a £500m issue in the mobile industry, accusing competitors EE, Vodafone, and Three of confusing contracts and overcharging postpaid customers. As demands for transparency grow, collaboration could lead to a more consumer-friendly market.
Vodafone and CK Hutchison are in negotiations to merge their companies in the United Kingdom in order to establish a market-leading mobile network that may advance the roll-out of 5G services and boost Internet accessibility. Combining Vodafone UK with Hutchison’s Three, Britain’s third and fourth largest networks, would result in a company with around 27 million mobile subscribers. Vodafone stated that CK Hutchison would hold 49% of the business and Vodafone would own 51%, an arrangement that would be accomplished by altering debt ownership rather than by trading cash. Reports of a possible partnership between the two companies surfaced earlier this year. The global corporation CK Hutchison stated that no legally binding agreement for such a merger has been entered into, but the proposed acquisition is expected to require that both businesses would integrate their UK companies. CK Hutchison further said that there is no guarantee that any…
The Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg), the Irish national regulatory authority, and the current Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment Richard Bruton TD have signed new regulations that will allow the release of additional radio spectrum to create extra capacity for mobile phone and broadband services. These are temporary measures taken in response to a sharp increase in the use of mobile networks, as people rely more heavily on their operators to communicate and stay connected during COVID-19 social distancing. According to ComReg, mobile operators have coped well with increased usage so far, but they have currently less headroom to accommodate further spikes in demand. ComReg Commissioner, Jeremy Godfrey, said, “The provision of this spectrum will help the mobile providers cater for the increased demand on their networks. ComReg will continue to work with industry and will support operators so that telecoms networks may continue to meet demand…
