Britain's competition watchdog is worried the proposed merger between Vodafone and Three UK could lead to bigger bills for customers, a view rejected by the companies who see it as a chance to transform the local mobile market with fresh investment.on the union of Britain's third and fourth largest cellular operators. It fears the consolidation would lead to price hikes for tens of millions of users, and possibly reduced service, such as smaller data allowances in contracts.
Vodafone and Three were quick to respond, issuing a detailed rebuttal that seems to show they anticipated the CMA findings. On MVNOs, Voda and Three contest that 90 percent of these in the UK rely on the two big players – BT/EE and Virgin Media O2 – so their merger would therefore boost competition in the wholesale market by creating a third player with the scale to compete.
Mann said the CMA's willingness to consider"behavioral remedies" such as enhanced network access for virtual operators or safeguards for retail customers, is significant as many had feared that more onerous"structural remedies", such as selling assets might be required. Analyst Megabuyte called the findings a"damning indictment" of the merger, adding: What really stands out from the CMA's commentary is the fact that it doesn't actually believe commitments to invest the benefits of the merger into customers / pricing / service quality – suggesting that it instead believes that will simply benefit shareholders.