Vodafone and Three UK have announced plans to merge their UK operations. Both of the companies have found it increasingly difficult to offer services and say a merger will address this issue.
Vodafone and CK Hutchison, which owns Three UK, are planning to merge their UK businesses. The deal will first need to be approved by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which has made the international press in recent months for blocking Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
If the merger is approved, it’ll mean that there’ll be just three mobile networks. The other remaining players will be EE (which formed as a merger of T-Mobile UK and Orange UK) and O2. Under the deal, Vodafone will be the majority stakeholder, controlling 51% of the business while CK Hutchison will control the remainder.
