Three's acquisition of O2 Ireland has been formally approved!

StaticNoise

It's approved.

- Three and O2 will merge
- Three must provide Eircom Meteor with signal and coverage in network-share
- No changes to customer care
- 'Supernetwork' to be built.

Three today welcomed the decision of the European Commission to approve the acquisition of the Telefónica O2 business in Ireland, which will take Three’s market share to 37% and bring subscriber numbers to over 2m active users. The two companies had combined revenues of €736m in 2013, which compares to Three’s revenue of €180m in 2013 on a standalone basis.

“With the combined strengths of the two businesses, Three will have the scale and financial strength necessary to compete more aggressively against the number one in the market. Our ability to invest coupled with the combined subscriber base of both businesses will create new competitive dynamics in the Irish telecoms market”, said Robert Finnegan, CEO Three. “It leaves Three optimally positioned to become the number one player by providing the best value and service to our customers.”

“Increasing access to high-quality high-speed networks for Irish businesses and consumers is an essential part of Ireland’s national economic recovery. This deal will enable Three to invest significantly in building a state-of-the-art 4G network, delivering very real benefits to customers in urban and rural areas throughout the country” Finnegan added.

“Our focus will now turn to the legal requirements to complete the acquisition which we expect to do shortly. Until then it is business as usual for Three and O2 customers”, continued Finnegan.

HWL, Three’s parent company, has so far invested over €1.1bn in the Three Irish business. This, together with the purchase of O2 Ireland and the planned investment of €300m to build a 4G network over the next three years, will bring HWL’s total investment in Ireland to circa €2bn. This investment shows HWL has great confidence in the future of the Irish market and the Irish economy.

As part of the EU approval process, Three has committed to provide network capacity and MVNO services to two MVNOs in order to facilitate new MVNO entry into Ireland with the option to acquire spectrum that may be taken up by one or the other to become a network operator. Three has also committed to offer to Eircom Meteor to continue its network sharing with O2 on improved terms with the merged network.

Careful_now!

So when all this happens, will that enable me to get out of my o2 contract early?

whiterebel

Careful_now! wrote: »

So when all this happens, will that enable me to get out of my o2 contract early?

Why would it?

Sonics2k

Careful_now! wrote: »

So when all this happens, will that enable me to get out of my o2 contract early?

Nope.

Careful_now!

whiterebel wrote: »

Why would it?

Would it not somehow change the terms and conditions?

Sonics2k

Careful_now! wrote: »

Would it not somehow change the terms and conditions?

Not even slightly. Your contract is not affected, no price changes and services continue as normal.

CivilEx

Does anyone know how long it might take for the merger to take place - is it weeks or months?

Bob24

CivilEx wrote: »

Does anyone know how long it might take for the merger to take place - is it weeks or months?

From a legal perspective I don't know. From a operational perspective I think it is definitely going to be many months before customers see an impact.

StaticNoise

This just came in today:

"From Three: We are upgrading our systems from 6PM Sun 22nd to Mon 8AM 23rd June. During this time you will be unable to top up. Sorry for this inconvenience."

Maybe this is part of the network integration?

Fresh Pots

StaticNoise wrote: »

This just came in today:



Maybe this is part of the network integration?

Could be but it really could just be anything, I'd say when they are merging the networks we'll know about it and they'll be shouting it from the rooftops

Cabaal

customer service will remain uncharged for now, expect alot of job losses in the next 1-4 years with O2 in Ireland

StaticNoise

Do you really expect job losses? I can see a merging of operations, such as Customer Care based in Ireland. Just a particular belief, but they might send all English speaking customer support to Ireland? OK, it is a long shot.

long_b

StaticNoise wrote: »

Do you really expect job losses?.

Well there'll be a geansaí load of retail stores that won't be needed for a start

my3cents

StaticNoise wrote: »

This just came in today:
......
Maybe this is part of the network integration?

They did the same last year and that was nothing to do with the merger.

StaticNoise wrote: »

Do you really expect job losses? I can see a merging of operations, such as Customer Care based in Ireland. Just a particular belief, but they might send all English speaking customer support to Ireland? OK, it is a long shot.

I expect them to decommission overlapping three and 02 masts so some users will get improved coverage and some will get worse or even no coverage. Thats how it worked out in a similar type of merger in the UK.

simplybam

Will they rename The Point to O3 then? Or even OZONE, for that matter?

Fresh Pots

simplybam wrote: »

Will they rename The Point to O3 then? Or even OZONE, for that matter?

Or the 302? ðŸ˜

The Governor

Would anyone know what this takeover means for the likes of 48 and Tesco who piggy back off the o2 network?

billbond4

The Governor wrote: »

Would anyone know what this takeover means for the likes of 48 and Tesco who piggy back off the o2 network?

No change, upc and carphone warehouse will be new mvnos on the new network also

SpaceTime

I suspect they'll just move Three customers to O2 infrastructure as it's a much more extensive network and repurpose the 4G aspects of Three Ireland and any 3G coverage that doesn't overlap O2.

Main thing you'll notice is Three customers will suddenly have better 2G/EDGE and more 3G coverage.

I'm guessing that this could possibly be done without swapping Three customers SIMs.

I'd be concerned that it could mean a lot of job losses if they off shore everything like 3 currently operates.

They'll most likely just rebrand O2 as 3 Ireland after a few months.

Bob24

One question if they indeed do this is what will happen with existing O2 customers.

They would see their network performances decrease (in some areas of Dublin the network is already saturated) and in most cases the y would be on plans which are more expensive than Three's equivalent. Moving them to Three pricing would most likely seriously affect profitability, but on the other hand doing nothing would piss them off.