VODAFONE AND THREE £16.5 BILLION MERGER GETS THE GREEN LIGHT – The CMA warns that the merger might lead to higher bills for consumers

The merger between Vodafone and Three has been approved, forming the UK’s largest mobile network with 27 million customers.

The £16.5 billion deal is conditional on both companies committing to significant investments in the UK’s 5G infrastructure and capping certain mobile tariffs and data charges for at least three years to shield customers from “short-term” price increases.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had previously expressed concerns that the merger might lead to higher bills for consumers.

This is not the first major telecom merger in the UK. In 2010, Orange and T-Mobile merged to create EE, which was later acquired by BT in 2016. In 2021, the CMA approved the £31 billion merger of Virgin Media and O2. Both deals resulted in job cuts: EE eliminated 1,200 positions shortly after its merger and another 550 jobs the following year.

While Vodafone and Three have claimed the merger will generate thousands of new jobs, the Unite union has warned that it could increase customers’ bills by up to £300 annually and result in the loss of up to 1,600 jobs.