Three, Voda promise £10-a-month or below mobile tariffs in bid to sway CMA on merger
- Reference: 1727779831
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/10/01/three_and_voda_offer_commitments/
- Source link:
The £11 billion union, in which Vodafone will take a 51 percent portion of the merged entity and Three UK (part of CK Hutchison Holdings) the remainder, was [1]announced in June 2023 , and has since been subjected to intense scrutiny by the regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
Just weeks ago, the CMA [2]voiced its concerns the merger would harm customers by hiking prices and negatively impacting the Mobile Virtual Network Operators that rely on the companies with infrastructure to run their own services.
[3]
Yet VodaThree not throwing the towel in yet, and this week reasserted their marriage is "pro-competitive" and "remain confident that outstanding issues can be resolved". They had until October 4 to propose remedies to assuage the fears specified by the watchdog.
[4]
[5]
On retail pricing, the duo said: "while our view is that the CMA's concerns about price increases are unfounded, we will commit to maintaining tariffs at £10 or below for two years from the completion of the merger for value-focused customers on the SMARTY brand, social tariffs on both the SMARTY and VOXI For Now brands, and continue measures to protect registered vulnerable customers."
There is of course nothing to indicate that prices won't jump after those 24 months. Mark Jackson, telco expert at ISP Review, [6]described the commitment as "quite weak, particularly given how cheap some of the MVNO providers on Three UK's network are across tariffs in the £20 to £10 range as well."
[7]
He added: "how long will that continue post-merger?" and pointed out that "Vodafone's equivalent plans are much more expensive."
On the wholesale concerns, Vodafone and Three said "we will provide a reference offer that encourages MVNOs to access our additional network capacity."
This could turn out to be vital to securing approval, according to Kester Mann, Director of Consumer and Connectivity at CCS Insight.
[8]
"The reference offer for virtual providers could hold the key to unlocking approval. The devil will be in the detail, but maintaining a vibrant wholesale market with three network operators instead of four is vital to ensuring the UK retains its position as one of Europe's most competitive mobile markets," he told The Register .
The pair said they will continue to constructively engage with the CMA, and remain confident they can work with the regulator to secure its approval for the proposed merger.
This will include setting out comprehensively why the merger is pro-growth, pro-customer, pro-investment and pro-competition in their forthcoming response to the CMA's Provisional Findings document.
Vodafone and Three have previously asserted they are both currently stuck playing second fiddle to the two major players that dominate the UK market - BT/EE and Virgin Media O2 – and claimed their unification would result in a third big player able to compete on even terms.
Those big players also achieved their market dominance through mergers, VodaThree argues.
[9]UK watchdog fears Voda-Three merger will balloon phone bills for customers
[10]UK comms watchdog banning inflation-linked mid-contract price rises
[11]AST SpaceMobile promises the Moon with seamless satellite phone service
[12]BT speaks out against Vodafone and Three's mobile marriage plans
Mann, along with other analysts, appears to back this outlook on the issue.
"I retain my view that approving the merger would be the best outcome for the future of the UK mobile industry. A combined Vodafone and Three can make more efficient investments and push BT and Virgin Media O2 to raise their game too, boosting the market's long-term connectivity credentials," he said.
Whether this can sway the CMA, which remains chiefly concerned about likely price hikes for consumers, is unclear. The regulator's final decision on the matter is expected on December 7. ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/14/its_official_vodafone_and_three/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/13/uk_cma_fears_vodathree_merger/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Zvwcp_ii7QNBEmJqHXwfPgAAARA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Zvwcp_ii7QNBEmJqHXwfPgAAARA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Zvwcp_ii7QNBEmJqHXwfPgAAARA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2024/09/vodafone-and-three-uk-set-out-competition-commitments-for-merger.html
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Zvwcp_ii7QNBEmJqHXwfPgAAARA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Zvwcp_ii7QNBEmJqHXwfPgAAARA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/13/uk_cma_fears_vodathree_merger/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/19/ofcom_inflationlinked_midcontract_price_rises/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/04/ast_spacemobile_plans/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/18/cma_vodafone_three_responses/
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Chancers
Something at which Three are past masters .
Re: Chancers
> Are there any brains at Chocolate Teapot Authority that could see that?
They're locked in an internal power-struggle with the Chocolate Fireguard department.
Re: Chancers
£10 for 50MB data/month on 4G, after which connection will revert to Edge for the remainder of the month.
In fact, just to show how generous we can be - £9.99.
Re: Chancers
~£15 for unlimited data, calls, texts; 4G @ 6Mbps
Current offering (advertised) is ~£20.
Re: Chancers
I was simply (and somewhat sarcastically) pointing out how easy it is to get around such a 'promise'. Current deals will not necessarily persist after any merger.
Re: Chancers
retail mobile tariffs at £10 or below for at least two years after their proposed merger
Yes, I read that and was reminded of the scene in Maverick where Mel Gibson's character sits down at a table to play cards, promising he won't win a hand for the first hour.
Given the gouging barstewards at Three hiked the price of my humble 321 PAYG tariff by something in the order of five hundred percent because, on their own admission, they could, I'd not trust the iniquitous little gits any further than I could throw this planet, whilst wearing a straitjacket and encased in a concrete block.
... and that's exactly when I ditched them...
"Give us a perpetual monopoly and we'll give you a cheap tariff for precisely 2 years and not a second more".
Er... no.
Moreover, the way it's phrased (at least in the article), they would only need to offer it say for one day at the beginning for a contract lasting up to two years, and nobody could get it after the first day.
4, 3 or 2
Problem with the "reduced competition" argument, without the merger it seems very likely Three and Vodafone will fail in the next few years, bring the "big 4" down to "the big 2". Three (or their parent) are clearly desperate to get out of the market, and Vodafone UK have been struggling for years. Neither can realistically compete with O2 or EE, particularly given the next levels of investment for network infrastructure and 5G roll-out. The time to put a foot down was probably at the EE merger (and the subsequent BT purchase).
Re: 4, 3 or 2
That means the CMA should be looking a breaking up the EE.
Re: 4, 3 or 2
I think we need to ban Mobile Network Operators (MNO), merge all the infrastructure into a Mobile Virtual Network Enabler (MVNE) company and turn the MNO into Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO).
Re: 4, 3 or 2
That's one way. The Mobile Virtual Network Enabler should be then fully state owned.
I get the impression the current "cheap" rates are because they have to compensate for coverage/speed - together they'd offer something interesting with their mix of spectrum and 5G SA.
As for the 2 year "promise", I suspect they'll do whatever they have to in order to remain competitive and maintain or improve revenue.
I'm not completely against the merge - I can see some benefits.
Mix
I guess it depends how they "mix it".
I dropped Three and moved to Lebara* (Vodafone MVNO). Signal is about the same (unusable), but, when there is what should be a reasonable connection, the data rates over Three ranged from zero to not much better. I hope they adopt the Vodafone infrastructure when they merge.
* at £4.95 a month for unlimited calls, inclusive roaming, texts, and 5GB of 5G data.
Re: Mix
Lebara is a pretty good shout round here. £10 for 15GB will do. So I guess I'll need to prepare for a price rise.
Like several others above, I was with 3 until they started discontinuing tariffs and despite introducing ones very similar kept trying to automatically move me to ones 3-4 times the price because it "fitted my usage patterns better". Narrator: They did not.
They also off-shored support around this time, and it got far worse when I had to tell them that no, I didn't want unlimited data or free access to social media, just give me the equivalent plan to the one I was on. I switched to id, who are a 3 MVNO so I knew what I was getting in terms of coverage, and the price has never changed. In fact they now give me more data for the same price. I suspect that they would be one of the first casualties of a merger though.
I primarily use my iPhone as a phone, ipod and passwords/2FA, so for £11 with EE I get unlimited calls, unlimited texts, 25GB data a month on 5G and the first price rise in 5 years was 25p/m, like to see V3 be competitive with this?
EE and BT should not have been allowed to merge and should be forced to break up!
You must have a special contract with them because for everyone else, they put up their plans annually along with nearly all other carriers according to their website, and some other articles showing historic price rises.
https://ee.co.uk/help/billing-payments/guide-to-bill/price-increase
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2021/02/bt-and-ee-customers-to-be-hit-by-4-5--price-rises/
https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/ee-customers-bills-rising-march-13984163
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/02/ee-to-increase-pay-monthly-mobile-prices-by-2-2-/
And you could actually get 30GB of data on 3 for £8/month, so even with price rise of £1.25 per year you'll be better off for a couple of years
https://www.uswitch.com/mobiles/sim-only-deal/6790a8e498ec64a07391185cc04a7e6ba2675dae/?position=3&list=compare%2Fsim-only-deals%2Fthree&list_loaded_id=30b17a16-58ad-442f-be84-613142540e28&page=compare%2Fsim-only-deals%2Fthree&retailer=three
I am getting the same on my "burner" from Vodafone at £10 per month.
How about "No"?
How about "No"?
Once upon a time, Three were trying to build up market share by offering pretty damn good value SIM-only contracts, including the completely killer feature of "Roam Like Home". I was with them for a good number of years, everyone was happy.
Then they got bored and greedy, killed "Roam Like Home" for new contracts, and made up some complete bullshit guff about how "we can't offer you your current contract any more" (funny how you were perfectly happy for it to keep rolling for years and years) and screwed over existing loyal customers, too, giving only the "option" (hah) of "we'll forcibly convert you to a new shitty non-roaming-inclusive contract, whether you like it or not, by a certain date, or you can pick from any of teh wonderfule super exciting [sic] other new contracts in our new crappier range…".
Fortunately by then, [1]"PAC code by text message" was already in place, so I didn't even have to endure the hell of phoning a customer contact cesspit to escape, just send a text (one of Ofcom's genuinely good improvements for customers).
Silly Three: if they had allowed me to continue with my then-existing contract (or maybe even increased the price a little bit, if they had really felt they needed to), I'd probably still be a customer, several years later. Their loss. I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only person who left in disgust because of this.
As for Vodafone, I've always got the vibe that they were "business focussed" (ahem) and thereby existed to always fleece victims for as much as they could possibly get…
(And don't start me on BTee, who are sadly now also money-grabbing leeches (BT landlines always were: "Hey, we're now going to charge you extra for the line rental that we have already billed you for and that you have already paid for ahead of time (How that was ever permitted, I don't know?!)). One upon a time, both Orange and (particularly) One2One/T-Mobile offered a good range of contracts depending on your budget and needed usage allowances, etc. But almost as soon as they merged themselves together, the self-enshittification all too predictably began (sadly), and then of course BT made it worse.)
moral: Go to MoneySavingExpert, look for the best deal suitable for you, and port, port, port, if that deal later becomes uncompetitive. That's how capitalism is supposed to work, right?
[1] https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/switching-provider/switching-mobile-phone-provider/
Smarty can get in the bin
As ever, it is location dependent - some friends have found excellent service with Smarty, to the point it replaced fibre.
For my location, I wouldn't use Smarty for free! When I tried the reception was 2Mb down, less than 1Mb up (so poor bandwidth monitors couldn't measure it). They're also *incredibly* keen to delete your account once your SIM stops being used for a while.
For cheap SIMs I currently use Giffgaff for my mobile at a tenner or less a month- which can be variable but is mostly OK, and broadband 4G backup is on 1pmobile (EE), transfer speed is outstanding. I don't need more competition when O2 and EE MVNOs are meeting all my needs.
Re: Smarty can get in the bin
As you say, coverage is very location dependent.
I managed for a month on Smarty at home (4G router in the loft), which could *just* cope with 2 people WFH, but gaming was iffy in the extreme.
Smarty switch off unused SIMs after 8 or 9 months, with reminder emails in good time - I don't know anyone who lets you keep a spare SIM active in a drawer without paying for it.
Fingers crossed that it remains this way.
Re: Smarty can get in the bin
If I remember it wasn't so much they switched off unused SIMs (which as you say, is standard), but that they also deleted my Smarty account entirely.
1pmobile allows you to buy a year's PAYG in advance, so they're an excellent option for broadband backup. If you don't use 10 quid in a quarter, it's deducted from your balance. It's been zero hassle since I used it, the only issue has been the lack of hysteresis in my router, so if fibre is bouncing up and down it continually shifts between fibre and 4G and causes connection issues rather than e.g. leaving 4G up for a minimum of ten minutes.
Re: Smarty can get in the bin
> Smarty switch off unused SIMs after 8 or 9 months, with reminder emails in good time - I don't know anyone who lets you keep a spare SIM active in a drawer without paying for it.
Vodafone PAYG SIMs have an “activate by” date, which is typically under 6 months from time of sale. Then get switched off a month or two after the account runs out of funds.
Re: Smarty can get in the bin
I don't need more competition when O2 and EE MVNOs are meeting all my needs.
Do you know that competition won't suddenly appear when you are going to need it in the future?
Under a fiver
That would have been a better price point.
Chancers
retail mobile tariffs at £10 or below for at least two years after their proposed merger
The two years will pass in a blink and then thanks to reduced competition they could hike the prices to make up for the two years and then some.
Are there any brains at Chocolate Teapot Authority that could see that?
This will include setting out comprehensively why the merger is pro-growth, pro-customer, pro-investment and pro-competition in their forthcoming response to the CMA's Provisional Findings document.
No, the merger is about making more profit and delivering for shareholders. Which means, as usual, screwing the customers.