[paulker]

I have heard from a good source that O2 and Vodafone are in the final stages of merging their networks. Both companies will stay separate and both companies will keep their spectrum allocation

Timescale is before the end of the year.

[ramzez]

Originally Posted by paulker

I have heard from a good source that O2 and Vodafone are in the final stages of merging their networks. Both companies will stay separate and both companies will keep their spectrum allocation

Timescale is before the end of the year.

are those not old news, we discussed here a few weeks ago?

[paulker]

I dont recall reading this but it seems to be imminent.

[technologist]

and is a very very bad news for the consumer ...

[paulker]

They will still be separate companies. Its just the infrastructure that will be shared so competition will still be strong

[nigelbb]

It's very good news provided that they invest the money saved into ensuring they give network coverage to those places currently without either O2 or Vodafone especially 3G.

It was always a mad situation in this country to have five totally separate physical mobile networks with all that duplication. It's like building five parallel roads to connect two cities. It wouldn't have mattered so much if it had encouraged competition to deliver the best service to the largest population but as it turned out the coverage from all networks is patchy at best.

[paulker]

Originally Posted by nigelbb

It's very good news provided that they invest the money saved into ensuring they give network coverage to those places currently without either O2 or Vodafone especially 3G.

It was always a mad situation in this country to have five totally separate physical mobile networks with all that duplication. It's like building five parallel roads to connect two cities. It wouldn't have mattered so much if it had encouraged competition to deliver the best service to the largest population but as it turned out the coverage from all networks is patchy at best.

I am also told that roll out of new sites in certain areas has been put on hold until everything is ironed out. I suppose they need to have plans firmed out in the network planning dept.

[Step666]

Originally Posted by nigelbb

It was always a mad situation in this country to have five totally separate physical mobile networks with all that duplication. It's like building five parallel roads to connect two cities. It wouldn't have mattered so much if it had encouraged competition to deliver the best service to the largest population but as it turned out the coverage from all networks is patchy at best.

Agreed.

In retrospect mobile masts should all have been built and maintained by the state, with all the networks operating as MVNOs.
That way profits from the fees charged to networks could be used to actually improve things like coverage.

[AntiDote]

So what does this mean in terms of benefits for their customers? Although they are separate companies does this mean a theoretical/actual improvement in signal coverage?

I'm tired and worn out this afternoon so if I've got that wrong, I'd appreciate any explanations using small words with no more than 2 syllables

[wavejockglw]

They are NOT merging their networks. They are sharing transmission sites and each will assume responsibilty for different parts of the country for the combined transmission network. Each operator will have their own spectrum and all voice and data traffic on each network will be completely separate. Marketing and sales will also remain totally separate and each will compete for business as before.

[wilt]

Originally Posted by AntiDote

So what does this mean in terms of benefits for their customers? Although they are separate companies does this mean a theoretical/actual improvement in signal coverage?

I'm tired and worn out this afternoon so if I've got that wrong, I'd appreciate any explanations using small words with no more than 2 syllables

Yes, each company will have access to more masts than they have now, so will, in most cases, mean there will increased coverage.

They also announced they will be (significantly) increasing 3G coverage beyond what both Vodafone and O2 cover right now, along with sharing the 4G roll-out.

[paulker]

Ok, I have revisited news articles and now realise this is old news. It didnt register at the time for some reason.

[Rich_L]

So what does this mean for the customer? In a nutshell...

EDIT: read the post

[ramzez]

@ paulker if your reliable source is right, then we should have it by the end of the year, but something tells me they won't be able to proceed that quickly, given in to the account that OFCOM didn't approve it yet...

[AyeJay]

I can't wait for EverywhereEverything.

[japitts]

Originally Posted by paulker

I have heard from a good source that O2 and Vodafone are in the final stages of merging their networks. Both companies will stay separate and both companies will keep their spectrum allocation

Timescale is before the end of the year.

Hate to say this, but your "good" source isn't very good. This has already been done to death on other forums as some other people have pointed out.

You're quite right in saying both companies are staying separate, though.

[Thine Wonk]

Wake me up when that pair invest in 3G coverage, especially in rural areas..

This news dates back 2 nearly months.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/bu...s-7827959.html

O2 will manage the East, including north London, plus Northern Ireland and most of Scotland. Vodafone will cover the West, plus south London, and Wales.

Vodafone UK's chief executive Guy Laurence and O2's chief executive Ronan Dunne said there would be cost-savings but would not give any financial details. However, 2,500 mobile masts should be decommissioned out of the pair's existing 21,000.

[wrexham103.4]

so its nothing like orange and t mob where you can use both networks roaming?

as it stands now in the areas i work live and socialise o2 and voda have pretty poor 2g and non existant 3g, so unless they stick up a few more masts ill be staying with tmob

[wilt]

Originally Posted by wrexham103.4

so its nothing like orange and t mob where you can use both networks roaming?

as it stands now in the areas i work live and socialise o2 and voda have pretty poor 2g and non existant 3g, so unless they stick up a few more masts ill be staying with tmob

Every mast, when complete, will be shared by both Vodafone and O2. So you wont need to roam, all Cornerstone masts will be broadcasting both networks.

If both Vodafone and O2 are already poor where you are, though, then only time will tell if it gets better.

[beecart]

Originally Posted by technologist

and is a very very bad news for the consumer ...

Why???

[whoever,hey]

Originally Posted by beecart

Why???

Have you ever heard of competition?

[Daveoc64]

Originally Posted by wilt

Every mast, when complete, will be shared by both Vodafone and O2. So you wont need to roam, all Cornerstone masts will be broadcasting both networks

Yet again, people make the same mistake as they do with Three/T-Mobile's RAN share.

While sites will be shared, the coverage area will still be different because each of the sites will have a different output power.

In addition to that, cell breathing will result in a reduced coverage area on whichever network has more users in a specific area

Originally Posted by beecart

Why???

It discourages competing on coverage, resulting in neither network making any meaningful improvements.

It may also result in some cell sites being decommissioned if there's too much "overlap". A bit like banks closing branches to "give you a better service".

[wilt]

Originally Posted by whoever,hey

Have you ever heard of competition?

But both companies are still separate and competing. The only thing that will affect the consumer is increased coverage. Which, last time I checked, was a good thing.

Originally Posted by Daveoc64

Yet again, people make the same mistake as they do with Three/T-Mobile's RAN share.

While sites will be shared, the coverage area will still be different because each of the sites will have a different output power.

In addition to that, cell breathing will result in a reduced coverage area on whichever network has more users in a specific area

I don't see which part of that makes what I said inaccurate. Even if it did, I don't see many scenarios where output powers would be vastly different. This isn't like T-Mobile/Three where Three have to try and offer complete coverage with 3G while T-Mobile can drop down to 2G where necessary.

Originally Posted by Daveoc64

It discourages competing on coverage, resulting in neither network making any meaningful improvements.

Except that there is still another physical network for them to compete with. And that network is currently beating them on most scores. Cornerstone will likely result in vastly improved 3G coverage for Voda/O2 coverage (and about time).

[Daveoc64]

Originally Posted by wilt

I don't see which part of that makes what I said inaccurate

You dismissed the notion that roaming would be beneficial to users. That is clearly wrong.

If you test Three and T-Mobile's coverage, you'll find it's frequently different.

Originally Posted by wilt

Except that there is still another physical network for them to compete with. And that network is currently beating them on most scores. Cornerstone will likely result in vastly improved 3G coverage for Voda/O2 coverage (and about time).

Yes, so the problem is that we now have "two networks" competing with each other, rather than five as Ofcom originally intended.

[wilt]

Originally Posted by Daveoc64

You dismissed the notion that roaming would be beneficial to users. That is clearly wrong.

If you test Three and T-Mobile's coverage, you'll find it's frequently different.

Roaming would only be beneficial in terms of speed of roll-out - once the networks are fully combined then the pros become negligible while the cons remain constant. Roaming across networks is incredibly inelegant and often doesn't work properly.

Originally Posted by Daveoc64

Yes, so the problem is that we now have "two networks" competing with each other, rather than five as Ofcom originally intended.

You're not counting the advantages of sharing though - areas where it previously wasn't economically for networks to cover individually will now become affordable taking into account the needs of both networks combined.

Just to prove my point: Which network has the best 3G coverage? MBNL, O2 or Vodafone?

You're cutting costs while increasing the number of sites available to customers. I could see your point if these networks were excellent already, but they aren't. They can't get any worse.