Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Then why pay £3B for them, If you are going to discard them considering the VM footprint is around 50% of OR.

I know we’re not disagreeing. I can’t see the the reasoning behind the deal, but who knows!

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

The professed aim would be that VM could operate TalkTalk more cost effectively as it has its own network which it could transfer Talktalk customers to and there would be purchasing and back office savings too. Though TalkTalk's contracts with the altnets and Open Reach may have several years left to run. And there are the other significant issues with this which we have discussed.

Other benefits that would likely be pitched are the benefits for VMO2 to have a value brand during a recession and if they're stretching things, bundling in mobile contracts for TalkTalk customers too. The latter does not have a good history.

I still think their reasoning for tabling the offer is to get Vodafone to pay more for TalkTalk (or put them off buying it) and get some competitive intel on TalkTalk. If they can do this without buying TalkTalk then perfect.

But as you rightly say: Who knows?

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Almost by definition the majority of Talk Talk internet subscribers will not be in a Virgin Media area (as would be the case for any other telco). Any move of customers over to cable exclusively will lose most of them.

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

It is worth remembering that VMO2 *are* a Openreach reseller though.

O2 are a large-ish player in the business broadband/ethernet/wifi game.

https://www.o2.co.uk/business/soluti...d-and-internet

https://www.o2.co.uk/business/soluti...ity/o2-gateway

A lot of the public wifi networks are O2 networks. There is just no consumer side to the FTTC/ADSL business - yet.

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Virgin Media O2 has started the process to sell at least 50% of its stake in its masts business.

The sale could raise as much as £750million and would be used to expand fibre broadband and mobile operations

https://www.ft.com/content/933abcba-...2-dbf058aa6e6c

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Virgin Media O2 has today appointed Ulrik Bengtsson as its new Chief Operating Officer, whilst Julie Agnew has replaced Rob Evans as Managing Director after he left due to health reasons


https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.ph...expansion.html

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Virgin Media O2 will publish its Q1 2023 financial results on Wednesday 10th May

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Virgin Media 02 added 28,800 Fixed Broadband customers in Q1 with the average speed standing at 315Mbps +36% on last year

Fixed customer base grew by 20,900 to 5.8 million

https://news.virginmediao2.co.uk/wp-...gs-Release.pdf

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

The Telegraph is reporting that both Liberty Global and Warner Bros Discovery has put All3Media up for sale rumoured to be as high as £1bn.

*Both Liberty Global & then called Discovery Communications has own All3Media since May 2014.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business...ale-1-billion/

---------- Post added at 21:42 ---------- Previous post was at 20:49 ----------

FREE link for story https://deadline.com/2023/05/warner-...le-1235383801/

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Virgin Media Ireland has today announced it has started to roll out 2 Gigabit Broadband

The first towns to get 2 Gig Broadband and 99.9% reliability are Tralee, Killarney and Letterkenny with a partial launch in Dublin, Cork and Louth as upgrade work continues in these 3 locations


2GB broadband standalone will cost €64 for the first 12 months and €90 a month after for new customers

2GB broadband with TV will start from €79 for the first 12 months and €124 a month after for new customers the cost is obviously be higher with multi room and sports and or cinema packages

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

I wonder what "99.9% reliability" means

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

WarnerBros Discovery needs the cash, it has about $45bn of long-term debt.

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Means it works 99.9% of the time………………….

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

It means it's very reliable and rarely crashes. My Virgin Media internet was 99.9% reliable in May

https://www.cableforum.uk/images/local/2023/06/1.png

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

The Times reports Liberty Global is looking at selling some or all of their VMO2 shareholding:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/l...o-bt-rlwjfh6sf

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

I wonder if this could lead to the end of the Virgin Media brand in the UK? It's more cost-effective to have just one brand and O2 seems to have more investment behind it in terms of perks and sponsorship. Plus, the licence fees to Virgin Group would no longer be needed.

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

The exclusive license agreement for the brand doesn't run out until 2036 I believe, Guess it would cost them to get out of the agreement early.

---------- Post added at 10:13 ---------- Previous post was at 10:08 ----------

ITV confirms interest
https://advanced-television.com/2023...a-acquisition/

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Well, it’s not certain they will sell.

But you are correct, more than a year down the line and we still have two identities. That doesn’t work. It didn’t work with NTL:Telewest and it doesn’t work now. It is also a barrier within the company with legacy employees hanging on to their former identities, it doesn’t help with integration.

You also have a great point that the O2 brand is just as powerful as the Virgin brand.

A decision will have to be made and unless contractual conditions prevent it, I can certainly see the O2 brand being favoured.

BT seem to be going with EE.

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

NTLTelewest did sign the deal that included a 30-year exclusive branding agreement deal with Virgin Group back in 2006.

So if they need to pay £2m per year - they would need to pay over £15m to get out of and that before terms and conditions when deal was signed.

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

I’m sure it was/is a lot more expensive than that.

£15m is peanuts anyway, if that was the figure.

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

I don't have the real number to hand so I just make one up.

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

From a quick Google I don’t think it’s quite straightforward to put a valuation on it as the 30 year licensing was tied to the NTL:Telewest acquisition of Virgin Mobile (which was nearly a billion quid which seems like a lot for an MVNO) and Branson got shares in the new entity.

One of the links seems to indicate a ten year break option which could be exercised in 2026/7.

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Rising the question how often have made things up :confused:

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

As JFman remarked to me, a belter from MB there!

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

To say i am shocked is an understatement :shocked:

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

It's probably not far off the formula in this old document.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/d...41_2ex10d5.htm

---------- Post added 19-06-2023 at 00:13 ---------- Previous post was 18-06-2023 at 23:57 ----------

Good point on the internal culture. I remember speaking to someone at a large multinational accountancy firm which we'll call XY LLP. He said there were three distinct cultures/values/groupings there - those who joined from firm X, those who joined from firm Y and those who joined firm XY.

BT seem to be taking their time going over to EE branding. They've not got BT TV available as an EE service. I can't see a BT TV type service being discontinued by them as they're still retaining a 50% stake in TNT Sports.

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Virgin Media O2 has informed staff it is to make an unspecified number of workers redundant

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

And that a surprise why :confused:

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

That's not an accurate statement.

VMO2 has advised certain affected employees that they are at risk of redundancy.

The way you phrased it would imply that the whole of the VMO2 workforce has been advised of this, which isn't true.

I don't know the actual figure but as far as I can tell, it is not a large number. Which doesn't make it any easier for those affected, I understand.

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Between 500-800. By the sounds of it.

Out of 16,000, I think, works out at up to 5% of the total workforce.

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Virgin Media O2 will make at least 800 staff redundant this summer with the expectation they'll be by the end of July ahead of pay rises for staff on August 1st

https://www.telecomtv.com/content/ac...ut-woes-47834/

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

As I understand it, there are 800 employees at risk, and 500 will go.

VR is on offer. Any affected employees also have the opportunity to put forward a "counter proposal"

In a departure from usual procedure, the whole thing has been devised and managed by consultants, Deloitte and consultations for affected employees are being undertaken again by 3rd parties brought in from outside the company.

The salary issue is dodgy, the annual salary review is usually announced by the end of the financial year. But VMO2 dragged their heels and finally put forward their proposal in May in a very convoluted presentation (which was basically everybody gets £2,000, so a good % increase for lower salaries, diminishing as you go up the pay scale).

But instead of then awarding the increase in May's pay, backdated 1 month. They advised that the new pay will start in August's pay, and there will be a one off payment of £400 in June, because of having to wait, but the payment in August will not be backdated. (which many pointed out is less than they would have got with backdated pay. They explained the reasoning behind this really strange arrangement with a load baloney.

Then low and behold, they announce these redundancies the outcome of which will be resolved by August, meaning than all those taking VR or being made redundant will not benefit from the new salary in their compensation packages as they would have done had they been paid the new salaries in May.

Recently they had the brass neck to stand in front of everyone and take the whole workforce for fools and say that this was all just a coincidence!

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Virgin Media O2 will now make up to 2,000 staff redundant by the end of this year, with some staff getting redundancy notices as early as last night

https://news.sky.com/story/virgin-me...-year-12926919[COLOR="Silver"]



Virgin Media has today released its Q2 results

• Fixed Line customers dropped by 24,700 to 5.8m
• Broadband had a net lose of 15,300 to 5,667,300
• Total Mobile connections dropped by 991,300 to 43,955,600

The drop in customers is a likely result of the massive price hikes in April and May starting to filter through

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

So what are all these people doing that are no longer needed?

---------- Post added at 10:17 ---------- Previous post was at 10:12 ----------

Why don't they make pay rises simple e.g. RPI+3.9% like they have for customers. Seems fair.

Is there a union?

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Is it reasonable to assume that one repurcussion of this is that even more customer service roles will be offshored.

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

The role isn't redundant then if the work still exists.

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

There's the CWU, but that's mainly for O2, VM doesn't recognise any union and most VM employees are not unionised.

The 2000 includes the 500 or so that finish this week.

VMO2 CEO Lutz Schuler, had to send out an email/ video message at 18:00 yesterday advising of the Telegraph story and also informing everyone of the new round of redundancies.

This was immediately after another video he sent apologising for the way they have handled the previous redundancies, which has been shambolic.

It really is amateur hour at VMO2.

Redundancies were always inevitable, that's the reason for the merger, cut duplication maximise synergies.

But the way it's being done, I feel embarrassed for him. I think the phrase that will be used next time he tries to get up front everyone is "he's lost the dressing room"

It's funny, on the VMO2 internal social media platform, it's all about "well being", "mental health", "look after each other" etc, etc, etc of course, us more experienced people know non of that matters when there's a bottom line.

What also doesn't look so great is that VMO2 drew down a £325M line of credit last month to pay it's shareholders.

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Think that that applies if work is in UK , 0f cause if you are increasing your work force , you could offer posts in the far East to redundant UK workers :erm:bet it just produces even longer waiting time, that saves the most

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Virgin Media Ireland and Sky Ireland have announced a landmark wholesale deal which will see Sky Ireland have access to VMs infrastructure

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Actually, as such a change in location would be a material change in the contract, offshoring would in fact be treated as a redundancy situation.

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Verizon Communications Inc are interested in buying Virgin Media UK according to Media Boy on Twitter

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

There's a near zero value of that type of information coming out in that manner.

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Media Boy doesn’t have a great track record.

I also do not see any reason for Verizon to want to buy Virgin Media O2, nor do I see any reason for Liberty Global and Telefonica to want to sell.


MB is not against making stuff up.
https://www.cableforum.uk/board/show...&postcount=421

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

How dare say such a thing against highly thought of contributer to this forum :rolleyes:

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Generally, joint ventures don't last forever and eventually one party buys the other out or the joint venture is floated or sold. However, VM O2 has only been going a couple of years and there's probably more cost and cash to be taken out of the business. I would expect ownership to remain as is for three more years with Liberty more likely to exit the business than Telefonica.

However, I don't see why Verizon would want to buy the company nor do I think the news would come via Media Boy.

I guess I'm agreeing with both you and jfman!

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

VM are doing Black Friday Deals

https://www.virginmedia.com/broadban...k-friday-deals

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

That reminded me of this advert!

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

Well Verizon's UK HQ is in Reading with Virgin Media's. Other than that, this news does seem to come out of left field but then again for instance I'm interested in world peace but that doesn't mean it's going to happen even if I'm interested in it. Maybe it's just a misunderstanding somewhere along the chain

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

The Advertising Standards Authority have banned Virgin Media’s misleading fastest Wi-Fi guarantee ad's

Re: John Malone/Liberty/VM General News Thread
 

They should investigate then for misleading Black Friday deals as well where they offer you a good deal on My Virgin Media page, send you the email confirming the new order and Order reference number and then try to deny they agreed the new deal at that price.

Thousands have been affected by this including myself.

Re: VM General News Thread
 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67782869

As already mentioned by MB in the coming soon thread, Warner and Paramount are in merger talks.

As I said in the earlier posts in this thread and this thread:

https://www.cableforum.uk/board/show...ht=john+malone

John Malone (ultimate owner of VM, Discovery (as it was) and now Warner Discovery) is looking for the last big deal.

As I used to say on this site, old media is dead in the water. Rupert Murdoch knew this and sold out, the signs outside the Hollywood companies in the future will read: Amazon, Apple, Google, Netflix and possibly one other like Sony.

If this merger happens, it won't stop there, I would then expect the merged entity to be gobbled up by someone like Microsoft. John Malone can then put his slippers on and enjoy his retirement. Oh wait, there's all the cablecos and mobile to deal with first...

Still plenty more companies to load up with debt.:rolleyes:

Re: VM General News Thread
 

I feel WBD/Paramount may need to sell Warner's or Paramount Kids channels to get the deal pass.

Re: VM General News Thread
 

Ultimate owner of Liberty Global, which only owns 50% of VMO2.

Re: VM General News Thread
 

I completely agree. It must be obvious to everyone by now that the streaming revolution is here to stay and will gobble up all of the TV channels as we know them. Only FAST channels will survive - but for how long?

And Netflix still reigns supreme, despite naysayers predicting its early demise.

Re: VM General News Thread
 

Obvious to who?

The biggest sports rights in the United Kingdom sold for a real terms loss and Netflix (and their mountain of debt) nowhere to be seen.

Re: VM General News Thread
 

Interesting times.

But I don't believe Malone does not control or own Warner Brothers Discovery
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/warne...20shareholders.

And he does not does not control or own VM since it merged with O2.

I'm sceptical of a WBD-Paramount merger coming off. Both are heavily in debt and need to focus on getting their own houses in order. Not to say that Amazon couldn't swoop for Paramount but I don't think they would want its broadcast TV assets.

The deal that has just happened is that Lionsgate Studios is listing via reverse takeover by a blank cheque company. I'm not sure if Starz has a healthy future as a separate company.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/...144912450.html

Re: VM General News Thread
 

BT/EE has announced they will axe mid-contract price rises linked to inflation from this summer after Ofcom threatened to ban the practice.

The change will come after this year's hike and will see customers told clearly in "pounds and pence" the planned increase to their monthly bill from next year.


No doubt others will now follow in the weeks ahead

Re: VM General News Thread
 

Virgin Media has been named the most-complained about broadband, landline phone and pay-TV service in the UK, getting 32 complaints per 100,000 broadband customers between July and September 2023.

O2 was named the most-complained about pay monthly mobile service.

Re: VM General News Thread
 

Lets face it that still is not many and I wonder how many of those are user error. Anyone in IT know there is always a number of PEBKAC issues

Re: VM General News Thread
 

But it takes multiple calls to sort one complaint, in my case 9 calls and 3 v6 boxes, two engineers to sort it out. Its not that you never have problems it's how you deal with them , in virgins case badly :dozey:

Re: VM General News Thread
 

That is lack of trained call centre staff. In my experience that is not unique and most IT based call centres are pretty much the same. FAQ sheets and no real clue

Re: VM General News Thread
 

So 99.968% of their customer base did not complain.

I think they could live with that number.

Re: VM General News Thread
 

Bar those that didn't bother to complain, or couldn't get through on the phones to do so.

The comparison with others in the same industry is the main point. You've got to go through a cancellation process to get any sort of decent CS from VM, it shouldn't be that way.

Re: VM General News Thread
 

My BB has a 99%+ uptime and never really had much of a complaint other than they have to go through the FAQ when you can tell them it is before the router and beyond the ability of me to fix in the home

Re: VM General News Thread
 

Virgin Media have launched Gig2 Full Fibre for areas in their nexfibre XGS-PON network.

It will cost £84 per month or £90 per month with symmetrical speeds.

Re: VM General News Thread
 

And what will anyone do with it? Sainsburys shopping?

Re: VM General News Thread
 

What areas whould those be ?

Re: VM General News Thread
 

Loads of them. At the moment, it's mostly small towns & large villages that weren't originally cabled. At some point they will start overbuilding the cable network.

Re: VM General News Thread
 

Oh, well I guess that rules me out for a long time still :(

Re: VM General News Thread
 

Not really, VM’s XGS-PON active foot print is, as present , modest.

Outlaying areas mainly, however Scarborough is a good one.

2G non-symmetrical, can and will be, provided over the HFC anyway.

Re: VM General News Thread
 

All these come with a free £349 LG 4K 43-inch. NEW CUSTOMERS ONLY OF COURSE

Re: VM General News Thread
 

.....on the nexfibre network, which is approaching availability to 1 million homes in suburban and semi-rural areas across the UK, including key cities like Belfast, Cardiff, London, and Glasgow, offers 2 Gbps speeds. .... Per press release

Re: VM General News Thread
 

Here's a list of places served or being added this year:
https://www.nexfibre.co.uk/wp-conten...2023-NEW77.pdf

Re: VM General News Thread
 

As I said XGS-PON availability in relation to VM’s HFC & RFoG offering is, at present, modest.

But that will, and is, improving.

The fibre overbuild of the HFC network is well underway, but none of the overbuild is live yet and HFC customers don’t yet have the option to switch.

Re: VM General News Thread
 

Have no idea what this really is ,but Cardiff Central definitely is not an outlining error :rolleyes:

Re: VM General News Thread
 

From the Telegraph:
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/comp...53c53ddd&ei=15

Re: VM General News Thread
 

Are you able to obtain XGS-PON in Central Cardiff from Virgin Media?

---------- Post added at 08:58 ---------- Previous post was at 08:51 ----------

A recent re-org in the VM CTO division, means it is focused on build and delivery of NexFibre and Fibre overbuild and, tellingly, M&A of other alt nets.

Talk Talk may have a decent consumer base, but it’s mainly delivered over OpenReach infrastructure and I’m not sure that’s what VMO2 are looking for.

Re: VM General News Thread
 

Agreed. The article had this to say on that subject
I would have though Vodafone would be a better combination, given their use of City Fibre and Open Reach like Talk Talk and value focus. However, Vodafone are busy trying to merge with Three and not flush with cash which is what TalkTalk's owners need.

The Telegraph also suggested regulatory issues might be a concern with Vodafone. I thought this would be less of a concern as they're not as large a player in broadband as VM.

Re: VM General News Thread
 

Reword have no idea what this is. And I don't live in Central Cardiff so not a clue:D

Re: VM General News Thread
 

Reflecting on this, VM O2 is the only big UK ISP not to have a value brand. Sky has Now and BT has PlusNet. VM O2 now has the value mobile brand GiffGaff in its portfolio which it could apply to TalkTalk's consumer arm if it acquired the business.

Although it would obviously be a lot of work moving TalkTalk customers over to cable connections where available, combining the two ISPs would give VM O2 market share getting close to BT's and leapfrogging Sky.

How the regulators would view it is another matter but given the context of TalkTalk's finances there might be some flexibility. A potential remedy that could suit both sides is if VM O2 agreed to sell on those TalkTalk customers who weren't in its cabled areas, perhaps coming to an arrangement with Vodafone in advance.

Market share

• BT/EE/PlusNet 33.6%
• Sky/Now >24.04%
• VM 20.18%
• Talk Talk/Shell 11.65%
• Vodafone 4.36%

Per: https://www.choose.co.uk/broadband/guide/market-share/

Re: VM General News Thread
 

So almost double what altnets charge for it and you can bet it'll hit over £100 a month point during your contract thanks to VM's usual eye watering price rises.

Really hope the altnets can keep rolling out services, it's the only way people will see sensible pricing out of VM.

Re: VM General News Thread
 

Or not have a “value” brand.

Re: VM General News Thread
 

If it acquired TalkTalk I'm pretty sure it would need a budget brand. It would lose a lot of the customer base by just moving them onto VM contracts. This loss would need to be balanced by the costs of running two brands and increased revenue from those TalkTalk customers it did successfully move onto VM contracts but the fact that its peers have budget brands suggests it works.

Re: VM General News Thread
 

Re: VM General News Thread
 

I suppose VM could launch some value bundle including its stream tv service, but we'll see.

---------- Post added at 21:14 ---------- Previous post was at 21:05 ----------

Interesting stats there.

My take on this, as has always been, is that we'll end up with three "cable" companies each with their own mobile operator. Perhaps there may be a forth once CityFibre and all the altnets come together, as I expect they will.

It is clear from those stats, that Vodafone has lost the broadband war, not that it was ever in it to begin with. So what happens next? Well look at the list.... it's clear. Who on that list doesn't have a mobile co?...

Re: VM General News Thread
 

Who will they be?

CityFibre and the altnets ( worst band ever, I have their first album) can’t afford to consolidate.

There will be some, but it won’t coalesce around CityFibre.

VMO2/NexFibre have M&A built into their future business plan.

Re: VM General News Thread
 

Virgin Media O2 will increase bills for most customers by 8.8%

Re: VM General News Thread
 

Blimey.

Re: VM General News Thread
 

And lose 10% of customers. Nutters.

Re: VM General News Thread
 

I have added it up to 7.9%

UK inflation rate - 4%
Virgin Media UK - +3.9%

Re: VM General News Thread
 

Nope. Virgin use RPI, which is 4.9% plus 3.9% = 8.8%

Re: VM General News Thread
 

That's the wrong inflation rate.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/milli...omers-32120599

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/ne...e-price-hikes/

Re: VM General News Thread
 

Sorry I did think it the one BBC News was reporting this morning.

Re: VM General News Thread
 

Strange how the Govt/companies use the higher RPI when it suits them.
e.g. interest on student loans, bb bills, and the lower CPI for pensions/benefits. Dick Turpin is at work here....

Even if they are getting away with the higher RPI how do they possibly justify the extra +3.9%? . The cable that has been buried outside my house for 20 years hasn't suddenly got more expensive than inflation. They are quite happy to let customers struggle with ancient equipment, as long as they don't complain, threaten to leave.

Re: VM General News Thread
 

… and let’s not forget it will be 8.8% of the ‘full’ price, not the discounted price.

Re: VM General News Thread
 

8.8% plus the 3.9% CPI. Thats what sky news said this morning

Re: VM General News Thread
 

In which case, Sky are also wrong. It's January RPI + 3.9%.
https://www.virginmedia.com/help/prices

Re: VM General News Thread
 

It's 8.8% according to sky news Web site five minutes ago

Re: VM General News Thread
 

On the altnets, I reckon Vodafone will gobble them up. But then you'll say, didn't I say that all of those on that list will have a mobile co, which clearly Sky don't have and indeed I did.

I don't believe VM in its current form is long for this world and baring in mind what Sky's owner's main business is, I think the direction is clear. And yes, I know about the regulators, but something will happen.

So, who will the list be, hard to tell. We need to know what is going to happen with BT first. Whether the Germans make their move or Patrick Draghi. But I would say, as shown by the AT&T Warner demerger, do not assume that the current combinations of media and telecoms will last.

So, in terms of networks, (not consumer services) I reckon something like this:

BT/EE networks. (Deutsche Telekom/Patrick Draghi likely buyers)
VM cable network (Comcast) and O2
Vodafone with altnets

---------- Post added at 20:31 ---------- Previous post was at 20:15 ----------

And by the way, I think three separate networks is ridiculous anyway and something I lobbied against many years, not that anyone paid any notice.

For the last three months, every time I walk outside my home, someone is digging up the roads and/or up telegraph poles installing fibre equipment. Different companies... What a waste of bloody money.

There should've just been one network, run by a network operator (call it Netcom..) and lease out the capacity to various companies to offer consumer services. But hey, that boat has sailed long ago.

Re: VM General News Thread
 

Sky isn’t an Altnet. You said that there would be 3no. Companies left. So that would be BT, VM & VF then?

*** Edit: acknowledge you answer that below.***

Vodafone is going to buy CF and all the other altnets? Vodafone that currently doesn’t have any access infrastructure whatsoever is going to buy and integrate dozens of altnets?

I don’t think so.

what form do you think it will be?

By VM (Comcast) are suggesting that Comcast is going to buy Liberty Global?

On the contrary, 3 networks …works. But no more than that and certainly not the current situation where you have several altnets overbuilding each other.

And buying altnets is not that simple, precisely because they’re over building each other. You could, for example, purchase Grain Connect and G.Network but then let’s say Grain and G.N have overbuilt each other by 50%, that 50% of dead network you don’t need!

Altnet consolidation is a very different beast to the CATV of the 90’s, the CATV companies neve overbuilt each other.

100% agree.

You could have done that, or the Gov could have sold franchises (a bit more difficult than in the 90’s), or there could have been a law that no more that 3 operators in one footprint.