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Originally Posted by 1andrew1
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The O2/3 merger has been blocked:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36266924
Just listening to the webcast again and I have changed my mind on what I said yesterday about Liberty/VM bidding for 02.
Mike Fries was VERY cagey when asked about this. He kept speaking about wanting to keep his options open and alluded to the fact that VM could pick off some infrastructure if 02/3 did merge. But he did not deny that it COULD be an option. I think it IS now an option.
I reckon it'll be an all out fight between Sky and Liberty/VM for 02.
---------- Post added at 16:28 ---------- Previous post was at 16:06 ----------
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Originally Posted by Kushan
Didn't those talks fall through a month or so ago?
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No, all going ahead. The Vodafone/Liberty operations should be merged by the end of the year.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kushan
The problem is that Virgin can't just ramp up capacity without significant investment. They're only just about on top of the majority of the congestion they currently have, bumping the majority of users to 100Mbit would just cost them a lot of money and, if capacity isn't there, actually cause them to lose customers.
I do think Virgin is missing a trick with the landline pricing, but now that ISPs are going to be forced to quote the full price of broadband including telephone line (if required), Virgin could make a compelling argument that they're significantly cheaper than the competition. Perhaps with their VoIP offering, they could basically give you broadband without a landline for no additional cost. That would be an incredible win.
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I agree. Hence, why they've launched a new hub with telephone sockets.
As for capacity, as I said, either VM ramp things up now or they'll lose the broadband advantage to BT. According to Media Boy, they have increased network capacity by 20%, but this is not showing in my area yet.
Either VM invest, build out to more homes, add in more capacity, or BT will.
Cable has always had the potential to be the best and has never lived up to that. I think the next few years will be critical for the cable industry aka VM.
A "little" thing like having no line rental and doing phone over the net, could just do it for VM and undercut the rivals.