Virgin Media merger with O2 approved by competition regulator

[1andrew1]

Virgin Media and O2’s £31bn merger won’t mean a bad deal for customers, says CMA

Watchdog says new telecoms giant will still have competition from rivals

£31bn merger between O2 and Virgin Media has been given the green light after regulators decided that the deal was unlikely to result in higher broadband and mobile prices for consumers.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/b...-b1831115.html

[pip08456]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/b...-b1831115.html

Only provisionally ATM though I expect it will be approved.

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.ph...-to-merge.html

[Hom3r]

What benefits with the customers get?


I have TV, BB and landline from VM, and I have 2 O2 phone contracts.

[pip08456]

Originally Posted by Hom3r

What benefits with the customers get?


I have TV, BB and landline from VM, and I have 2 O2 phone contracts.

Existing customers - probibly none as VM have a 5yr MVNO agreement with Vodaphone.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Hom3r

What benefits with the customers get?

I have TV, BB and landline from VM, and I have 2 O2 phone contracts.

The chance to buy shares in the new company if it floats?

Mergers are done for the benefit of companies' owners, not their customers. Sometimes the two interests overlap, sometimes they don't.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

The chance to buy shares in the new company if it floats?

Mergers are done for the benefit of companies' owners, not their customers. Sometimes the two interests overlap, sometimes they don't.

Homer is the target, anecdotally speaking.

There are a lot of O2 customers that don't have VM services and a lot of VM customers that don't have O2 services.

Back office synergies and costs savings too.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Pierre

Homer is the target, anecdotally speaking.

There are a lot of O2 customers that don't have VM services and a lot of VM customers that don't have O2 services.

Back office synergies and costs savings too.

Yes, the opportunity to be cross-sold is the main benefit for customers. Perhaps with O2 shops now featuring the V6 and signing up VM broadband customers as well.

[vincerooney]

Originally Posted by pip08456

Existing customers - probibly none as VM have a 5yr MVNO agreement with Vodaphone.

i was under the impression they were going to buy themselves out of that contract?

[pip08456]

Originally Posted by vincerooney

i was under the impression they were going to buy themselves out of that contract?

They haven't done so yet.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by vincerooney

i was under the impression they were going to buy themselves out of that contract?

There's no need to.

There is a lot of work going on prior to the merger in finalising what the new architecture and equipment will be to support the O2 infrastructure in the new entity.

Then it has to be built and activated which will probably take some time, I haven't seen a programme.

As seen as there is a contract in place with Vodafone it doesn't make sense to break it and incur penalties and potential disruption when it can all be moved over at a later date when everything is in place.

[vincerooney]

Originally Posted by Pierre

There's no need to.

There is a lot of work going on prior to the merger in finalising what the new architecture and equipment will be to support the O2 infrastructure in the new entity.

Then it has to be built and activated which will probably take some time, I haven't seen a programme.

As seen as there is a contract in place with Vodafone it doesn't make sense to break it and incur penalties and potential disruption when it can all be moved over at a later date when everything is in place.

Do we know when the contract with vodafone ends?

I'm an o2 customer at the moment and have been for about 18 years but been thinking about leaving for a while and just getting a mobile with virgin media instead.

Now they're merging with o2...

[pip08456]

Originally Posted by vincerooney

Do we know when the contract with vodafone ends?

I'm an o2 customer at the moment and have been for about 18 years but been thinking about leaving for a while and just getting a mobile with virgin media instead.

Now they're merging with o2...

That's a bit complicated to answer. The 5yr Vodaphone contract was signged late 2019 but Virgin's EE contract doesn't end until late 2021. Persumably the Vodaphone one will commecnce then or does it? They are already rolling out Vodaphone's 5G connectivity does that mean the Vodaphone contract is already in effect? Who knows other than Virgin?

[Itshim]

Originally Posted by pip08456

That's a bit complicated to answer. The 5yr Vodaphone contract was signged late 2019 but Virgin's EE contract doesn't end until late 2021. Persumably the Vodaphone one will commecnce then or does it? They are already rolling out Vodaphone's 5G connectivity does that mean the Vodaphone contract is already in effect? Who knows other than Virgin?

So whom would be servicing virgin mobile if l signed up in the next few weeks ? Have vodaphone at the moment and it is rubbish .

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Itshim

So whom would be servicing virgin mobile if l signed up in the next few weeks ? Have vodaphone at the moment and it is rubbish .

Vodafone.

[RichardCoulter]

What's O2 customer service like (never used them) and do they use UK based call centres?

If it 's any good, hopefully they will improve the current abysmal CS efforts of VM.