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Three takeover of o2 for £10bn done
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Liam_777
04-07-2015
When I was upgrading in store the other day, the employee mentioned that they were merging with 3 and that 3G and 4G signal would be improved, they also said nothing would change and the O2 brand would remain.

Seems unlikely? Maybe just what managers are telling the employees to say.
Gigabit
04-07-2015
Technically, it is not Three that is buying O2, it is their parent company. They could merge later on but initially Three's parent company will own two networks.
mupet0000
04-07-2015
Originally Posted by Liam_777:
“When I was upgrading in store the other day, the employee mentioned that they were merging with 3 and that 3G and 4G signal would be improved, they also said nothing would change and the O2 brand would remain.

Seems unlikely? Maybe just what managers are telling the employees to say.”

Well technically, for now the O2 brand is remaining and there are no announced plans that say otherwise. So they can say that to make customers feel better about the brand I guess.

I doubt the shop staff have access to any more information than has already been made public.
interactiv-uk
04-07-2015
Originally Posted by Liam_777:
“When I was upgrading in store the other day, the employee mentioned that they were merging with 3 and that 3G and 4G signal would be improved, they also said nothing would change and the O2 brand would remain.

Seems unlikely? Maybe just what managers are telling the employees to say.”

Which store was that?
Aye Up
05-07-2015
Originally Posted by mupet0000:
“Well technically, for now the O2 brand is remaining and there are no announced plans that say otherwise. So they can say that to make customers feel better about the brand I guess.

I doubt the shop staff have access to any more information than has already been made public.”

You have a strong point there, its interesting that around the same time BT & EE was mooted Hutchison Whampoa went after O2. However we should note the regulatory plan/framework is pretty much established for BT & EE, a matter of public record if you will. Now since the announcement of HW"intention to buy" O2 UK there has been pretty much sod all said about it. I have no doubt that deal will suffer a lot more scrutiny than BTs proposals. There are several regulators at both the domestic and continent level who want their nose in. BT wants the merger to be done by around the end of the current tax year. HW and O2 UK poses some pretty big regulatory concerns and these need to be smoothened out before a consensus can be had.
Rycall
05-07-2015
Originally Posted by Liam_777:
“When I was upgrading in store the other day, the employee mentioned that they were merging with 3 and that 3G and 4G signal would be improved, they also said nothing would change and the O2 brand would remain.

Seems unlikely? Maybe just what managers are telling the employees to say.”

They absolutely should not be mentioning anything like this and no manager will be telling their employees to say this. The bottom line is noone in stores knows what is going on, they have all received a communication from Telefonica explaining that this is an ongoing process and at the moment it is business as usual and Three is still considered a rival company. Any attempt to undermine this is known as gun-jumping and could impact the company financially and/or delay the deal between Hutchinson Whampoa and Telefonica.
Thine Wonk
05-07-2015
Originally Posted by Aye Up:
“You have a strong point there, its interesting that around the same time BT & EE was mooted Hutchison Whampoa went after O2.”


3 years now, starting with the acquisition of O2 Ireland, denied by O2's CEO in the UK following early rumours, indicated by HWL 2 years ago when they sold assets specifically to look at acquisition.

BT had been looking around to acquire an MNO for a while too, both of these deals have been on the cards for 2 to 3 years, and any suggestion a kneejerk reaction was made by 1 company just because another announced intentions is completely misguided.
Icaraa
05-07-2015
Originally Posted by interactiv-uk:
“Which store was that?”

Don't name the store. He's probably a manager looking to get a member of staff in trouble.
Icaraa
05-07-2015
Originally Posted by Thine Wonk:
“3 years now, starting with the acquisition of O2 Ireland, denied by O2's CEO in the UK following early rumours, indicated by HWL 2 years ago when they sold assets specifically to look at acquisition.

BT had been looking around to acquire an MNO for a while too, both of these deals have been on the cards for 2 to 3 years, and any suggestion a kneejerk reaction was made by 1 company just because another announced intentions is completely misguided.”

Fair enough, but why did BT initially announce they were looking at acquiring O2?
joeluken
05-07-2015
Originally Posted by Liam_777:
“When I was upgrading in store the other day, the employee mentioned that they were merging with 3 and that 3G and 4G signal would be improved, they also said nothing would change and the O2 brand would remain.

Seems unlikely? Maybe just what managers are telling the employees to say.”

The sale of O2 Ireland to Hutchison was approved June 2014. Store branding, /web branding and sponsorship changed within months. This is how O2 Ireland appears now www.o2.ie

I doubt very much a store employee would be privy to Hutchisons branding plans but outside the UK the O2 brand will still exist even if it doesn't in the UK i.e. http://www.o2online.de/
jchamier
05-07-2015
Originally Posted by Icaraa:
“Fair enough, but why did BT initially announce they were looking at acquiring O2?”

BT said they were looking at both O2 and EE, and the media picked up on it when the Spanish chief exec of Telefonica came over to meet BT exec's in London.
Rush
06-07-2015
Would keeping the O2 UK name even be an option? If the name was being used by Telefonica in other territories.

Killing a huge brand like O2 seems unthinkable, but I thought the same about Orange at the time.
jonmorris
06-07-2015
Originally Posted by Rush:
“Would keeping the O2 UK name even be an option? If the name was being used by Telefonica in other territories.

Killing a huge brand like O2 seems unthinkable, but I thought the same about Orange at the time.”

Ultimately, I don't think Three intends to keep the name, but otherwise I am sure it could have licensed it from Telefonica. No doubt there will be a certain time allowed to use the branding before a proper merger.

Also: I do wish this thread title could be changed. The deal wasn't done when the thread was created and still isn't now. Every time this thread is bumped up, I am sure people think it's breaking news!
Gigabit
06-07-2015
I still think losing the Orange brand was a mistake.
lightspeed2398
06-07-2015
With the EE merger they got rid of the two brands and replaced it with a brand new one. With this one isn't there the issue that a lot of people have a negative view on the Three brand and will be put off. They might have good coverage now but it wasn't always that way.

If I were them I think it might be a good idea to create a new brand and start fresh.
daveyfs
06-07-2015
Originally Posted by lightspeed2398:
“With the EE merger they got rid of the two brands and replaced it with a brand new one. With this one isn't there the issue that a lot of people have a negative view on the Three brand and will be put off. They might have good coverage now but it wasn't always that way.

If I were them I think it might be a good idea to create a new brand and start fresh.”

Ozone...
Aye Up
06-07-2015
Originally Posted by Thine Wonk:
“3 years now, starting with the acquisition of O2 Ireland, denied by O2's CEO in the UK following early rumours, indicated by HWL 2 years ago when they sold assets specifically to look at acquisition.

BT had been looking around to acquire an MNO for a while too, both of these deals have been on the cards for 2 to 3 years, and any suggestion a kneejerk reaction was made by 1 company just because another announced intentions is completely misguided.”

I don't think anyone assumed a kneejerk reaction. Three was waiting on who BT were going after. They admitted as much back in December. If BT had gone after O2 then HW would've have tried to go after EE although I suspect that wouldn't have been allowed. Its telling is it not that sweet fa has been said about this deal since March?

BT/EE is a dead cert as long as some assets are offloaded by either side. O2 and HW has to clear a lot of hurdles yet, OFCOM is doing about to conduct a strategic review in terms of fixed line and mobile telephony which may take some time (expect max of 6 months). I don't for a second suggest this deal hangs in the balance, just merely the mergers will shape the outcome of that. It may even bring forward the refarming or more lucrative spectrum in the 700 range much sooner.
Richard_T
06-07-2015
Theres far too much importance attached to brand names, especially in the mobile phone/communications sector , One2One, Cellnet, Orange, T-Mobile were all big brands at one time now there just footnotes in the past, although the names still have some resonance with most people.

If the O2 sale does go ahead, what will happen to Giff-gaff?
could Telefonica keep it to maintain a foothold in the UK, could 02 re-launch as a Telefonica owned MVNO ruining on the enlarged Three network at some point in the future.

A Telefonica retained/owned Giff gaff and a possible relaunched 02 mvno in the future would certainly be a sweetener for offcom.
lightspeed2398
06-07-2015
Spectrum wise how will the merged network work on 4g? Could they run all the former o2 sites on 1800 at 15Mhz (or more if they use that o2 spectrum?) and then run 10Mhz of 800 at full power for VoLTE only? Then for capacity some 2300 or 2600 from the auction of BTEE?
jonmorris
06-07-2015
Telefonica wants out, so I doubt it will have any interest in keeping Giffgaff. I am not sure if this will be purchased by Hutchison or not, or if O2's stake will just be sold off for another company to take over and run as a normal MVNO?

It may well be that Giffgaff is part of the purchase, and users will just transfer to Three along with O2 customers, as Orange and T-Mobile users effectively did with EE.
binary
06-07-2015
Originally Posted by jonmorris:
“Also: I do wish this thread title could be changed. The deal wasn't done when the thread was created and still isn't now. Every time this thread is bumped up, I am sure people think it's breaking news!”

+1

That was my first thought on seeing it.
Ray266
07-07-2015
I have just seen this http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php...ed-mobile.html So has Sky bought o2?
moox
07-07-2015
Originally Posted by Ray266:
“I have just seen this http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php...ed-mobile.html So has Sky bought o2?”

Sky are more likely setting up their own virtual operator.

Like how Virgin Media has Virgin Mobile - they don't own EE (whose network they use). Or the supermarket mobile networks. Or BT, who does not yet own EE but is offering a mobile service using that network.
omnidirectional
07-07-2015
Originally Posted by Ray266:
“I have just seen this http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php...ed-mobile.html So has Sky bought o2?”

That will be a virtual network run on O2.

The deal was done in January before O2 was sold, but that shouldn't affect it.

If O2/Sky have access to Three masts when the service launches next year that will make it a lot more attractive, instead of depending entirely on O2's infamous data coverage.
DiandalScotland
12-07-2015
Originally Posted by daveyfs:
“Ozone...”

o23
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