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3 + 02 v EE |
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#76 |
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Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: The wilds of West Tyrone
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I still think the 2x5MHz of 800MHz that Three has might be required to be divested so that a fourth entrant would have lowband spectrum to compete with. You have remember that is the reason Three got it in first place.
There biggest worry is they will be biggest network in UK with a smaller amount of spectrum resources than EE and only about same as Vodafone who will have nearly half the customers they will. I reckon the main condition for an O2/3 merger will be that they won't be allowed to bid in the 700MHz auction, with spectrum set aside for a new MNO. |
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#77 |
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Join Date: Jul 2007
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I know what you mean, but I think the lines are now starting to blur more these days with all talk of convergence & multiplay - today's decision on BT buying EE puts BT in a strong position overall in terms of telecom provisions in both mobile, landline and TV. Meanwhile Vodafone are dipping their toes into landline broadband. BT can offer quaplay while Vodafone can do triple play and might even look at quad in the future. On the other hand O2 have withdrawn from landline while 3 signal no intentions to get involved other than stick with mobile. No LLU, No TV...
I still stand by from what I said in the 2016 predictions thread, the merger will be allowed to go ahead albeit with some conditions. With Three and o2 it is a whole different ballgame, 2 networks want to merge with the accompanying loss of competition in the sector. While I'm not saying the merger definitely won't get approval, I would be very surprised if that approval comes, or comes in anyway that does allow the merging of the networks to result in a less competitive market of only three networks. Stranger things might have happened in history, I mean if you believe some books dead people came back to life but my gast will be totally flabbered if this goes ahead and 4 are allowed to become 3.
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#78 |
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Join Date: Jun 2001
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Maybe the idea of multiplay was a moot point, but I still think there is a large issue of the effectively monopoly provider of end-to-end landline phone & broadband solutions in the country (unless you live in Hull) taking over the largest UK network in terms of subscribers dominating the communications market overall being the elephant in the room.
Meanwhile Telefonica clearly want out, and Hutchinson don't want to remain where they are right now, either they want to expand their UK operation or they too will want to sell out. Neither O2 or 3 look that healthy in their present states and there isn't much to suggest they'll improve on their own. Maybe a new entrant to the UK mobile market is lying in the wings waiting to pick off the carcass of O2 but if there is, it's not public knowledge right now. |
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#79 |
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Join Date: Jul 2007
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Maybe the idea of multiplay was a moot point, but I still think there is a large issue of the effectively monopoly provider of end-to-end landline phone & broadband solutions in the country (unless you live in Hull) taking over the largest UK network in terms of subscribers dominating the communications market overall being the elephant in the room.
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Meanwhile Telefonica clearly want out, and Hutchinson don't want to remain where they are right now, either they want to expand their UK operation or they too will want to sell out. Neither O2 or 3 look that healthy in their present states and there isn't much to suggest they'll improve on their own. Maybe a new entrant to the UK mobile market is lying in the wings waiting to pick off the carcass of O2 but if there is, it's not public knowledge right now.
Agreed, but I doubt any of that will be considered in the investigation, chances are that there will probably be more than one predator hiding in the undergrowth waiting for their chance .
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#80 |
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Join Date: Apr 2013
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Lots of people dislike BT, and that colours the argument, but remember the French and German versions of BT are the current owners so for EE to be becoming British owned would be seen as a good thing, it's bringing ownership back into the country from foreign phone company control.
As a result of the EE deal, DT now own a significant chunk of BT (and will be able to appoint a person to the BT board). There's a lock out for a few years (other than acquiring Orange's BT stake) but after that it's not out of the question DT would want to acquire the rest of BT. If that happened maybe they will rename EE as T-Mobile
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#81 |
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Join Date: Jul 2007
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#82 |
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Join Date: Mar 2000
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With the possibility that could be a temporary situation.
As a result of the EE deal, DT now own a significant chunk of BT (and will be able to appoint a person to the BT board). There's a lock out for a few years (other than acquiring Orange's BT stake) but after that it's not out of the question DT would want to acquire the rest of BT. If that happened maybe they will rename EE as T-Mobile ![]()
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#83 |
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Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: United Kingdom
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Maybe it will be T-Mobile BT by EE.
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#84 |
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Join Date: Apr 2011
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Quite aside from being funny we may be spared having to have BT in our status bars.
I would be very comfortable with T-Mobile.
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#85 |
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Join Date: Mar 2013
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Well T-Mobile can't put a takeover bid for BT until 2019 so we still have years of EE or maybe BT Mobile on our phones lol.
T-Mobile buying BT depends on if they can sell T-Mobile US off or not to be honest. |
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#86 |
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Join Date: Apr 2013
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Quite aside from being funny we may be spared having to have BT in our status bars.
I would be very comfortable with T-Mobile. ![]() What I don't want is, when I have a Cat 9 or 10 mobile connection available from EE is for my phone to ignore that and automatically connect to a BT Homehub wifi connection when I walk past someones house who has BT broadband with, I don't know, some crappy 1.7 Mb/s ADSL connection because, you know, it's wifi so it must be better! |
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#87 |
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Join Date: Apr 2011
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TBH I'm OK if it changes to BT.
What I don't want is, when I have a Cat 9 or 10 mobile connection available from EE is for my phone to ignore that and automatically connect to a BT Homehub wifi connection when I walk past someones house who has BT broadband with, I don't know, some crappy 1.7 Mb/s ADSL connection because, you know, it's wifi so it must be better! Check out my question over on the EE thread. It's a really great idea but I'm probably dreaming. |
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#88 |
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Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: East Midlands
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If the O2 Three merger doesnt go ahead could we see O2 sold to another outside provider (AT&T/Verizion/someone else) and then CHK/Hutchisson sell Three UK only for it to be bought up by the same entity that bought O2
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#89 |
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I'd just like it sold somebody who would invest in it. Verizon have the best network in the USA so they seem like a good owner.
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#90 |
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I'd just like it sold somebody who would invest in it. Verizon have the best network in the USA so they seem like a good owner.
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#91 |
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I'd just like it sold somebody who would invest in it. Verizon have the best network in the USA so they seem like a good owner.
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#92 |
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Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Midlands
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Also the Government will want more bidders not less in an auction. So to stop someone bidding could be quite foolish and selling off assets on the cheap,as such.
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#93 |
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My US family are on Verizon, but the competition has caught up in the last 4 years, and T-Mobile is a realistic challenger for them (I know as when we visit, we roam on T-Mob, as Verizon don't let anyone roam, still working as a CDMA network).
Telus is closing their CDMA network in Canada, almost gone now and the coverage map doesn't even list it, Bell CA to close CDMA by the end of this year. Verizon will close their 2G / 3G CDMA networks off over the next 6 years. Just look at the defunct CDMA networks list, the ones in Europe which have filed for bankruptcy or the ones which are planning to switch off over the next 5 years. It is a very dead technology. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_CDMA2000_networks |
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#94 |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 14,640
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I'd just like it sold somebody who would invest in it. Verizon have the best network in the USA so they seem like a good owner.
If you live in an area that has FiOS (fibre to the home) the service is generally top notch, but coverage is incredibly limited - and if you're stuck on DSL, then you're very unfortunate. I've constantly whined about BT's rollout strategies, but compared to Verizon they look positively futuristic. At least when BT installs a street cabinet, they'll do VDSL from it. Verizon's most recent DSL rollouts (mandated by law) are limited to 3Mbps ADSL max, even when they've run fibre to the damn thing and the equipment is capable of at least 24Mbit. That's assuming your phone line works at all, since Verizon doesn't like their technicians making proper repairs to the copper network - just stick a rubbish bag over it, hopefully it'll keep the water out They'd love to abandon their copper network and sell everyone extremely expensive, low-usage-limit, high profit fixed LTE instead. Hopefully BT doesn't do the same thing once they have EE, for those people that FTTC/FTTP currently does not touch. If Verizon or AT&T did get their hands on a UK network, I think they'd have a hard time adjusting. Many of the anti-competitive business practices that they love just wouldn't wash here. Imagine having to pay a ton more per month because an automated system has noticed you own a smartphone and that has a special, more expensive, data plan? Or that they won't unlock your phone for use on other UK networks, only foreign ones? Or having to seek permission to use your phone on their network? |
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#95 |
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Not for much longer though right? The CDMA thing is nearly over.
It is a very dead technology. Once Verizon Wireless is a pure LTE network they may start to think about roaming, but they've probably not got their heads around this yet.The CDMA technology worked very well for 2G, in fact better than GSM for large distance coverage, think the US midwest, or countries the size of Russia or China - needing less masts than GSM. What happened was CDMA version of 3G was awful, and the technology could not really cope with the growth of smart phones. No wonder Apple didn't touch the tech until Verizon Wireless paid them to make a version of the iPhone 4 with CDMA. Since then the amazing pace of cellular modem development has meant incorporating all modes into one handset. Nokia never really did 2G phones for the CDMA market either, they essentially left that market to Samsung and LG. Anyone remember when the original AT&T mobility network switched from CDMA to GSM and did a handset swap? This is before the advent of buying/merging with Cingular. (And when the US had PacBell, Powertel, Voicestream, Omnipoint and other almost state wide local GSM networks). |
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#96 |
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Verizon has a good wireless network but it is at the expense of their wireline network.
VZW is I believe still a separate division owned by VZ - I guess how BT will hold EE for quite a while - you take it slow when the bit you've bought is very successful. |
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#97 |
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Join Date: Feb 2015
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Verizon Wireless is generally quite a good network for LTE. Most coverage certainly out of all the American ones. But it's expensive and feels a bit old compared to what T-Mobile USA are doing.
If Three were going to be sold I'd quite like SoftBank or Telenor to consider them. SoftBank I think have done a lot with high frequency spectrum in Japan so I feel they could perhaps bring some ideas to Three's network. |
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#98 |
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Join Date: Dec 2015
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Verizon Wireless is generally quite a good network for LTE. Most coverage certainly out of all the American ones. But it's expensive and feels a bit old compared to what T-Mobile USA are doing.
If Three were going to be sold I'd quite like SoftBank or Telenor to consider them. SoftBank I think have done a lot with high frequency spectrum in Japan so I feel they could perhaps bring some ideas to Three's network. |
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#99 |
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Join Date: Aug 2014
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SoftBank could work, but then you have to consider they also own Sprint, who are currently running out of money and are miles behind in rollout, but when they are good they are very good. Kinda like Three I guess.
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#100 |
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Join Date: Feb 2015
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SoftBank could work, but then you have to consider they also own Sprint, who are currently running out of money and are miles behind in rollout, but when they are good they are very good. Kinda like Three I guess.
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but my gast will be totally flabbered if this goes ahead and 4 are allowed to become 3.