As you may have seen in the news recently O2 has been put up for sale by current owner Telefonica who recently confirmed they are in exclusive talks with Hutchison Whampoa.
Hutchison Whampoa owns the UK operator Three and have already merged with O2 in Ireland and Austria and with the exclusive talks being announced it seems likely that Three and O2 will become one.
So what does this mean for us?
Well if Hutchison do end up purchasing O2 it will reduce the number of independent operators in the UK from four to three. This will of course reduce competition in the mobile provider market and bring us into line with most of Europe. At present mobile network operators reap lower margins here than elsewhere in Europe, by some 20 per cent.
So you might not believe it, but you get keener deals and lower prices in the UK than on mainland Europe. It’s likely that this will end with the reduced competition and we’ll soon be paying more for our mobile contracts
Industry regulator Ofcom has for years resisted calls for more consolidation but with European competition authorities approving the mergers in Austria and Ireland as well Germany it seems likely to happen here as well.
If you haven’t reviewed your phone contract recently then get in contact with Pro Drive on 0330 124 3599 before the inevitable price hikes and we can arrange a no cost analysis.
