- CMA says remedies pledged by telecoms firms could allay its concerns
The £15billion merger of Vodafone and Three UK looks set to go-ahead after regulators said customer protection pledges made by the operators could alleviate competition concerns.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been investigating the merger between the mobile giants since it was announced last summer, having warned a ‘substantial lessening’ of competition could lead to higher bills for ‘millions’ of Britons.
Vodafone and Three UK last month revealed a suite of measures designed to placate the CMA, including a pledged to cap their lowest-cost mobile plans at £10 for two years.
CMA clears the way for approval of Vodafone and Three UK’s £15bn megamerger
The CMA said it had provisionally found the firm’s commitments, which also include an eight-year investment plan for the roll-out of 5G across Britain, ‘could solve competition concerns identified in September and allow the merger to go ahead’.
It added: ‘[The] investment programme proposed by Vodafone and Three would significantly improve the quality of the merged company’s mobile network, boosting competition between mobile network operators in the long term and benefiting millions of people who rely on mobile services.’
The regulator said Vodafone and Three UK’s delivery of their plans would become a legal obligation, overseen by the CMA and telecoms watchdog Ofcom.
The merged business will also have to commit to ‘retain certain existing mobile tariffs and data plans for at least three years, protecting millions of current and future Vodafone/Three customers’, and to pre-agreed prices and contract terms ensuring ‘competitive’ wholesale deals.
A final decision from the regulator is due before a 7 December statutory deadline.
Stuart McIntosh, chair of the CMA inquiry group leading the investigation, said: ‘We believe this deal has the potential to be pro-competitive for the UK mobile sector if our concerns are addressed.
‘Our provisional view is that binding commitments combined with short-term protections for consumers and wholesale providers would address our concerns while preserving the benefits of this merger.’
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