04 Oct 2022

Vodafone & Three eye merger to ‘accelerate 5G’ coverage

Vodafone UK has announced plans to merge with fellow UK mobile network operator Three UK to “accelerate the rollout of full 5G in the UK and expand broadband connectivity to rural communities and small businesses”.

In a statement to shareholders, Vodafone said that a deal with Three UK owners CK Hutchison would “create a new major player in the UK mobile market”.

Referring to a recent report by telecoms regulator Ofcom on the competitiveness of the 5G market in the UK, Vodafone said the deal would help ensure both companies had ”the necessary scale to earn their cost of capital.”

It added: “The merged business would challenge the two already consolidated players for all UK customers and bring benefits through competitively priced access to a third reliable, high quality and secure 5G network throughout the UK.”

Mobile network performance measurement firm RootMetrics recently revealed that UK mobile network operators are delivering “outstanding 5G reliability with low latency”.

BT-owned EE came out on top for all of RootMetrics' 2022 report’ showing UK-wide RootScore categories which measured: ‘Reliability’, ‘Accessibility’, ‘Speed’, ‘Data’, ‘Call’, and ‘Text’ and has established itself as the market leader. They are now being challenged most closely by the UK’s largest telecoms company following the full completion of a £31bn merger to create Virgin Media O2 in June 2021.