The Competition and Markets Authority has also said it is 'concerned' by the prospect of the mergercould leave the average customer facing an increase of over £30 or 16 per cent on their phone bill, with experts warning of both “higher prices” and “reduced quality.”
Julie Bon, phase 1 decision-maker for the case at the CMA, said: “Whilst Vodafone and Three have made a number of claims about how their deal is good for competition and investment, the CMA has not seen sufficient evidence to date to back these claims.” He added that his analysis over a 25-year period of similar “four-to-three” merger deals showed an “unambiguous” average rise in consumer bills post-merger by 16 per cent.to Ofcom’s pricing trends report published in December, a 16 per cent increase would lump an additional £33.79 on to the average Brit’s annual bill, or an extra £135.17 for a family of four.
George Stevenson, a bargaining and investigative researcher at the Unite union, told the same committee session in October that research on “comparable mergers in the UK and the US” suggested job cuts in the region of 1,000 to 1,600 could be expected for Vodafone and Three staff if the deal goes through.
Vodafone UK chief executive officer Ahmed Essam said: “Having reached this important milestone, we look forward to working with the independent panel on the phase 2 process.