Vodafone merging with 3

[anonymoususer]

Announcement imminent rumoured to be tomorrow
Vodafone to control 51% with 49% to Hutchison

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/articl...

Having had some interest in that industry since the later 80s it amazing what a crazy path its taken
BT doing a deal with securicor when they realised they couldnt get a licence on their own result = Cellnet
BT increasing the stake in the business securicor giving way result BT Cellnet
BT becoming o2 and being bought
BT relaunching as a smaller MVNO then getting bigger and bigger
Virgins initial odd price plans
3 arriving with rather shaky video calls and bulky handsets
The launch of the i phone that changed everything
etc etc

Edited by anonymoususer on Thursday 8th June 19:25

[anonymoususer]

EmailAddress said:

Can't be good for network diversity. What does that leave.

It leaves :

Voda/3
o2/ Virgin
EE/BT

I think they are the only actual providers with masts
All the others are mobile virtual network operators (MVNO's) who piggy back onto one of the 3 providers networks

It should be considered that actually some of the recent pricing innovation came from MVNO's and there are still lot's of MVNO's in operation

[bazza white]

Not keen. The t mobile/orange merger was bad for the customer as prices shot up shortly after.

[Deesee]

It will be like rabbit soon, where everyone is hanging around a hot spot for a call..

Out of touch, do Hutchinson still own 3? Is it now actually Chinese owned, I would wonder if we were in the EU this would not happen/already happened?

[anonymous-user]

anonymoususer said:

It leaves :

Voda/3
o2/ Virgin
EE/BT

I think they are the only actual providers with masts
All the others are mobile virtual network operators (MVNO's) who piggy back onto one of the 3 providers networks

It should be considered that actually some of the recent pricing innovation came from MVNO's and there are still lot's of MVNO's in operation

Virgin and BT are MVNOs. The only networks we have currently are EE, Vodafone, O2 and Hutchison.

[anonymoususer]

sebdangerfield said:

Virgin and BT are MVNOs. The only networks we have currently are EE, Vodafone, O2 and Hutchison.

Yes clumsy wording on my part
As from the announcement there will only be 3

[James6112]

Will 3 mobile customers all be transferred to Vodafone, a customer grab?

[craigjm]

This is just a UK merger isn’t it

[anonymoususer]

James6112 said:

Will 3 mobile customers all be transferred to Vodafone, a customer grab?

Probably just continue as they are for around a year and then merge into one

[skwdenyer]

anonymoususer said:

Announcement imminent rumoured to be tomorrow
Vodafone to control 51% with 49% to Hutchison

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/articl...

Having had some interest in that industry since the later 80s it amazing what a crazy path its taken
BT doing a deal with securicor when they realised they couldnt get a licence on their own result = Cellnet
BT increasing the stake in the business securicor giving way result BT Cellnet
BT becoming o2 and being bought
BT relaunching as a smaller MVNO then getting bigger and bigger
Virgins initial odd price plans
3 arriving with rather shaky video calls and bulky handsets
The launch of the i phone that changed everything
etc etc

Edited by anonymoususer on Thursday 8th June 19:25

Don’t forget Hutchison co-founded Orange, sold it, then launched Three.

[craigjm]

This is just a UK merger isn’t it

[anonymoususer]

skwdenyer said:

anonymoususer said:

Announcement imminent rumoured to be tomorrow
Vodafone to control 51% with 49% to Hutchison

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/articl...

Having had some interest in that industry since the later 80s it amazing what a crazy path its taken
BT doing a deal with securicor when they realised they couldnt get a licence on their own result = Cellnet
BT increasing the stake in the business securicor giving way result BT Cellnet
BT becoming o2 and being bought
BT relaunching as a smaller MVNO then getting bigger and bigger
Virgins initial odd price plans
3 arriving with rather shaky video calls and bulky handsets
The launch of the i phone that changed everything
etc etc

Edited by anonymoususer on Thursday 8th June 19:25

Don’t forget Hutchison co-founded Orange, sold it, then launched Three.

Of course yes

[The Rotrex Kid]

I sold mobile phones (retail) when 3 launched, their market grab and offers were crazy. The commission they were paying was bonkers, 4x compared to the mainstream networks.

Yes the handsets were bulky, but they had good specs and offered video calling (which nobody used, but is now mainstream) and massive data packages for the time.

[Sheepshanks]

anonymoususer said:

Having had some interest in that industry since the later 80s it amazing what a crazy path its taken
……

Wait until Amazon starts bundling mobile services with Prime.

[untakenname]

Apple is likely to be a bigger disruptor than Amazon imo, the latest iPhone already has satellite communication built in but it's currently for SOS only, if Apple can skip the Telco's then it's game over for them.

Currently 5g is a joke in London on 3 in peak times due to over subscription, I've got full signal on the phone and at night I'll get 300+ Mbps but during the day in the exact same location it will still show full 5g signal yet drop to less than a meg per second.

[anonymoususer]

The Rotrex Kid said:

I sold mobile phones (retail) when 3 launched, their market grab and offers were crazy. The commission they were paying was bonkers, 4x compared to the mainstream networks.

Yes the handsets were bulky, but they had good specs and offered video calling (which nobody used, but is now mainstream) and massive data packages for the time.

Their credit checking system was............................interesting.
We did it straight to avoid clawback (which didn't seem to exist at the time with them) . Another reason was to avoid the dodgy elements that you might attract.
Others dealers were more "open" and one chap would reverse the name on a credit check if a failure and they then went through
It was crazy. From memory the 3 contract form was double width with annoying letter boxes .
At launch I seem to remember the NEC flip, but can't recall the others

[sociopath]

untakenname said:

Apple is likely to be a bigger disruptor than Amazon imo, the latest iPhone already has satellite communication built in but it's currently for SOS only, if Apple can skip the Telco's then it's game over for them.

Currently 5g is a joke in London on 3 in peak times due to over subscription, I've got full signal on the phone and at night I'll get 300+ Mbps but during the day in the exact same location it will still show full 5g signal yet drop to less than a meg per second.

5g? We can hardly get 3g here and we're only 4 miles from Chester

[The Rotrex Kid]

anonymoususer said:

The Rotrex Kid said:

I sold mobile phones (retail) when 3 launched, their market grab and offers were crazy. The commission they were paying was bonkers, 4x compared to the mainstream networks.

Yes the handsets were bulky, but they had good specs and offered video calling (which nobody used, but is now mainstream) and massive data packages for the time.

Their credit checking system was............................interesting.
We did it straight to avoid clawback (which didn't seem to exist at the time with them) . Another reason was to avoid the dodgy elements that you might attract.
Others dealers were more "open" and one chap would reverse the name on a credit check if a failure and they then went through
It was crazy. From memory the 3 contract form was double width with annoying letter boxes .
At launch I seem to remember the NEC flip, but can't recall the others

Yes I remember the exact same. I worked with some very interesting characters who took full advantage of their lax checking!

Launch handsets were the NEC e616 and e313 I believe?

The Motorola A830 as well I thinks

[alangla]

anonymoususer said:

Their credit checking system was............................interesting.
We did it straight to avoid clawback (which didn't seem to exist at the time with them) . Another reason was to avoid the dodgy elements that you might attract.
Others dealers were more "open" and one chap would reverse the name on a credit check if a failure and they then went through
It was crazy. From memory the 3 contract form was double width with annoying letter boxes .
At launch I seem to remember the NEC flip, but can't recall the others

My brother had one of the early NEC 3 devices. I remember it being about the same size and shape as the Nintendo Game Boy. Wouldn’t be that surprising now, but back then phones were pretty small and getting smaller, apart from this huge thing.

[Timothy Bucktu]

I imagine powering those cell towers is costly what with the price of angry pixies. I guess it makes sense to merge, and power 50% of them off, or at least the transmitters on shared towers. I realise that won't be the only reason of course, it's just a factor maybe?
Same reasons some radio stations are switching off their AM transmitters.