London— Social Word Tips Mobile network Three is set to acquire Britain's
second-largest mobile provider O2 from Spain's Telefónica in a £10 billion deal.
The move would create the UK's biggest mobile group and
reduce the number of major operators in the UK from four to three.
It would also make Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, Asia's
richest person whose firm Hutchison Whampoa owns the Three network, one of the
biggest foreign investors in the UK.
Hutchison said its offer includes £9.25 billion ($13.9
billion) in cash plus up to another £1 billion ($1.5 billion) in interest
payments after the deal is completed, depending on how O2 and Three perform
once they are combined.
The company cautioned that the deal still needs corporate
and regulatory approvals and the talks "may not result in any
transaction."
The news has worried consumer groups who fear that the price
of phone calls and mobile internet access could increase, and will likely face
intense scrutiny from competition regulators in Brussels.
However, Hutchison Whampoa have pointed to deals in other
countries that were approved. "The European Commission has taken a
positive view of four-to-three consolidations of mobile in three cases
now...and we believe that the precedents that they have set in those
transactions will apply for this transaction," the group's finance
director Frank Sixt said.
Glen Johnson
I'm Glen Jonhson. A full time Technology Blogger.
Website:
https://www.socialworldtips.com
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