Announced today, UK carrier Vodafone and Three have reached a deal that will see the two merge into one carrier with a goal to create “one of Europe’s leading 5G networks.”
In a press release, Vodafone UK and Three UK announced that merged network, currently referred to as “MergeCo,” will bring “a better network experience with greater coverage and reliability at no extra cost” to UK consumers. It also promises a “six-fold increase in average data speeds” by 2034 and 99% coverage of the UK with its 5G network.
The merged company will see Vodafone owning 51%, where Three’s parent company CK Hutchison Group Telecom Holdings Limited would own 49%. There’s no cash involved in the deal, apparently, with the two companies contributing “differential debt amounts” to reach the deal.
The deal is expected to face scrutiny from the UK’s Competition and Market Authority, but feels much like the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint in the US, which ultimately went through. Like T-Mobile and Sprint, Vodafone and Three currently sit in third and fourth place in the UK market, with O2 and EE being the biggest carriers. This merger, the press release notes, would create “a third operator with scale, levelling the competitive playing field.”
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