Mobile network takeovers: O2 and EE

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Posted this on another forum but would also be interested in what you guys have to say?

Rumours are strong that BT plans to buy either O2 UK or EE. BT is supposedly is more interested in EE than O2 but BT would apparently "settle" for O2.

Hutchison are also considering purchasing O2 (Hutchison being 3 UK's parent company), should BT purchase EE or BT's talks with O2 fall through. These rumours have been going on for many years but have been re-lit recently after Hutchison purchased O2 Ireland.

What does everybody think about this?

 

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Three and EE will never be allowed to go ahead; Three and O2 would be fine though.

There's no issue going down to three providers as was proved in Germany (?).

 

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BT to buy EE! Three will hopefully buy O2 in that case.

 

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So you will have BT owning a mobile network as well as the infrastructure used by ALL networks to pipe calls to landlines... The conspiracy theorists will have a field day

Except they don't, as VM provide a significant amount of the mobile phone backhaul, as do Vodafone (formally C&W).