The second and fourth largest carriers in the UK—O2 and Three UK—could be in talks for a merger according to The Financial Times.
Asian conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa has been evaluating a merger between its own Three UK and Telefonica’s O2, which would create the largest wireless carrier, ahead of T-Mobile and Orange’s EE.
The move comes a few weeks after BT Group confirmed talks with EE over a £12.5 billion acquisition, which would allow the broadband and phone provider to offer mobile options in a quad-bundle.
Li Ka-shing—the owner of Hutchison Whampoa—is reportedly interested in beefing up Three UK’s spectrum and customer-base, something O2 could provide with 3G and 4G spectrum nationwide and 22 million customers.
Three did acquire O2’s wireless network in Ireland, and over a year ago questions were asked about an acquisition of O2’s network in the UK, which Ka-shing denied would happen.
There were rumors a few weeks ago that Sky has been in talks with O2, which would allow the satellite TV and internet service to provide the all important fourth wireless option in bundles.
Virgin Media is also reportedly in talks with Vodafone for its own bundle option, but there has been little discussion on this apparent merger.
Having all these wireless acquisitions up the air does make Ofcom’s job a bit hard, especially since BT Group and EE could hurt the competitiveness of wireless due to having the most broadband and 4G customers in the UK.
Three UK and O2’s merger would allow some competition in the wireless front, but for customers looking for the all important quad-bundle, Three would need to acquire another asset to make this possible.
