Three to buy O2 Ireland for €780 million

bealtine · 24-06-2013 8:41am #1

http://www.businesspost.ie/#!story/Markets/Markets+News/Three+to+buy+O2+Ireland+for+%E2%82%AC780+million/id/19410615-5218-51c7-e09f-dbb5a2800807

bealtine · 24-06-2013 9:37am

and in an extreme irony the three network collapses this morning...(24/6/13)

watty · 24-06-2013 9:52am

Yes, it's bad (but not for the reasons that Comreg might suggest), be better the other way round. O2 was owned by a Spanish telecom company with a clue. Three is owned by Hutchinson Whampoa (Hong Kong) who out source almost everything, main support for all countries in India and their only Telecom expertise is selling contracts. Their "3G repeaters" for NBS should have been illegal and their supply of Satellite services particularly inept.

There is Irish expertise to make sensible Engineering decisions, but Three are unlikely to employ it.

Three's strategy of pricing, data caps and marketing of 3G/HSPA data is unsustainable.

But Comreg's only judgement of fitness to hold a 3G licence seems to be paying the fee. Have they ever either had decent licence conditions or properly enforced the conditions that do exist?

bealtine · 24-06-2013 10:16am

watty wrote: »

But Comreg's only judgement of fitness to hold a 3G licence seems to be paying the fee. Have they ever either had decent licence conditions or properly enforced the conditions that do exist?

pfft enforcing licence conditions is "bad for business" and therefore revenues for Comreg.

The whole NBS conditions/requirements are a fantasy and utterly ignored by Comreg and the DECNR, so yes I agree the only condition required by Comreg is cash and lots of it, things like consumers or engineering knowledge are irrelevant.

After all these are the guys that gave you LTE will do 180Mb/s without any problems....

bealtine · 24-06-2013 1:54pm

bealtine wrote: »

and in an extreme irony the three network collapses this morning...(24/6/13)

Three are real comedians...It's the fault of somebody else that fault and nothing to do with us...
Our backhaul provider failed so obviously we didn't bother to do simple engineering tasks like install network redundancy and have only ONE backhaul provider (or whatever) it's all their fault...

This is engineering 101...never have a single point of failure.

Mr. G · 24-06-2013 1:57pm

It comes very quickly after O2 announced that they improved their coverage. I can see where this is going now...

funnyname · 24-06-2013 2:21pm

If this happens will Vodafone and 3 still go ahead with their plan to share infrastructure?

Might be the right time for the Govt to set up a single company that owns the infrastructure and lease it to the mobile networks?

writhen · 24-06-2013 4:51pm

funnyname wrote: »

If this happens will Vodafone and 3 still go ahead with their plan to share infrastructure?

Am curious about this myself. This deal seems to make their NetShare joint venture with Vodafone somewhat redundant.

SeeZee · 24-06-2013 8:29pm

This is a dark day for Irish telecoms

jesus_thats_gre · 24-06-2013 8:31pm

writhen wrote: »

Am curious about this myself. This deal seems to make their NetShare joint venture with Vodafone somewhat redundant.

It does?

elderlemon · 24-06-2013 11:30pm

Doubtful the regulator would allow Netshare to handle Vodafone/Three and now o2 sites.

Think there might be objections from other network providers.

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

It does?

jesus_thats_gre · 25-06-2013 8:42am

elderlemon wrote: »

Doubtful the regulator would allow Netshare to handle Vodafone/Three and now o2 sites.

Think there might be objections from other network providers.

Certainly going to be interesting to see how it plays out.

watty · 25-06-2013 9:49am

elderlemon wrote: »

Doubtful the regulator would allow Netshare to handle Vodafone/Three and now o2 sites.

Think there might be objections from other network providers.

a) I don't see Comreg really interfering, they don't much once they are sure of their revenue

b) The only other Mobile Network provider is Meteor (also sold as eMobile), belonging to Eircom.

I'm beginning to suspect that as market matures you tend to get one dominant player that supports the others so as to not appear a monopolist (MS saved Apple) or a Duopoly (Bottle / bulk gas, Hard Disks). Bell/AT&T was split up and now the bits are practically together again.

Interesting that Vodafone does Broadband as well as Mobile in Germany also has just bought a German Cable operator and is getting into Fibre here. They also took over all BT Ireland's Retail DSL customers.

02 only resells eircom DSL.

So Three/O2 is essentially without any Broadband delivery to customer of their own, but their competition do have real broadband, though BT still only resells its DSL infrastructure (dating from ESAT) and has not transferred that to Vodafone yet.

Sky is only a eircom Reseller.

UPC is reaching saturation in their rollout and is unlikely to invest much more as their parent has just bought UK's Virgin Media.

bealtine · 25-06-2013 1:41pm

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/o2-brand-to-disappear-as-three-snaps-up-rival-operator-for-850m-29369261.html

CYHSN · 25-06-2013 2:26pm

I wonder what will happen with the contracts landowners have made with meteor and o2 with sharing the masts, would three now take over the contracts with meteor instead?

watty · 25-06-2013 11:25pm

Eh? Eircom (meteor & eMobile) sold most of their masts to Threefold (no connection to Three) and leased back a lot.

Any contracts with site owners are unaffected by changes of ownership of companies anyway. c.f. Chorus and NTL cables on houses --> UPC.

Some masts belong to ESB, Private mobile operators, Bord Gais, 2RN (formerly RTENL), vodafone, BT, O2 or Three. What ever arrangements to share sites or actual masts are likely to be unchanged.

Since O2 uses 900 (and probably 1800 also) as well as 3G, there may be few duplicates to rationalise. You can be sure Three will ditch any close to each other sites where it's possible to move the base-station and aerials to a single site.

funnyname · 26-06-2013 9:27am

Is it now the right time for the Govt step in and take control of the mobile infrastructure?

Mr. G · 26-06-2013 9:38am

funnyname wrote: »

Is it now the right time for the Govt step in and take control of the mobile infrastructure?

I know its slightly OT, but when Telecom Eireann was sold, Eircom should have gotten the retail side and the government should have kept the network. That way at least we know its not some private company that owns the whole network ripping us off. Line rental is the most expensive in Europe (€20.96 + VAT), I've no doubt eircom aren't going to reduce it themselves. I don't think the state have any money to spend taking over the mobile infrustructure. Its complicated as it is.

bealtine · 26-06-2013 10:56am

Mr. G wrote: »

I know its slightly OT, but when Telecom Eireann was sold, Eircom should have gotten the retail side and the government should have kept the network. That way at least we know its not some private company that owns the whole network ripping us off. Line rental is the most expensive in Europe (€20.96 + VAT), I've no doubt eircom aren't going to reduce it themselves. I don't think the state have any money to spend taking over the mobile infrustructure. Its complicated as it is.

Line rental works out at €25.36 so el gov is coining it on line rental too through VAT so you can see there's no real incentive for the gov to do anything about it. However the line penetration rate has fallen significantly over the last few years so the "law of diminishing returns" has kicked in...

IOFFL have long been calling for a single RAN (radio access network), where the benefits of a RAN are obvious....better mobile internet for everybody as there would be more spectrum available and no duplicating of expensive civil and infrastructure works so cheaper for telcos, the telcos could do what they do best sell stuff to consumers (with one honourable exception as they have some engineers). But that wouldn't be in Comreg's interest.

It also looks like the mythical market (so beloved of Comreg) seems to agree.

Pete69 · 28-06-2013 6:35pm

Some interesting thoughts / comments, here.

I have to agree that this is very bad news for mobil customers in Ireland.

As has been stated already, 3 outsouce most of their core activities, the result of which is typically poor service and delievery of their core infrastructure. Their BTS supplier rolls out, almost as many software upgrades / patchs as microsoft, which usually results in prolific hardware failures. Their backhaul network is not engineered to take into account typical Irish weather, and believe me the weather has a massive impact on the performance of microwave transmission.

O2 on the other hand, designed and engineered its own network for the most part, and has been fairly reliable in recent years. Of course they do suffer faults and outages, but nothing like what 3 currently do.

The futher for the backhaul networks will be to provide fibre connections to remote hub sites and reduce the dependancy on multiple microwave links, this is becoming more and more of a reality as fibre is getting cheaper to supply.

Most if not all LTE base stations can support either multi vendor or multi band networks, so reducing the amount of civil infrastructure (towers, cabins, antenna's and even power supply) will be easily achievable in the futher.

If one company supplied the infrastructure and just leased RF / transmission bandwidth to the various network vendors, this would level the playing field from a technical perspective. The big advantage of this would be that all vendors networks would be equal, leaving them to get on with their preferred business of marketing.

As for who currently owns the site's, there are a multitude of companies involved. This causes a massive problem for the network maintenance providers, as each and very one of them has their own proceedures and policies around access and health and safety, which often leads to prolonged delay's restoring service after outages.

There are several companies currently buying up the lease's etc. to the sites here in Ireland which may lead to further problems, for the maintenance providers, some of these companies have been going around the country removing the vendor locks from the sites and replacing them with their own locks without informing anyone.

http://www.tiger.ie/news/newsarticles.html
http://www.wirelessinfrastructure.co.uk/home/
http://www.netshare.ie/Pages/default.aspx

As for the network sharing deals currently in operation or planned, O2 / Meteor is fairly well stalled, and 3 / vodafone's proposed deal has to be doubtful at best.

oscarBravo · 28-06-2013 7:49pm

Pete69 wrote: »

The futher for the backhaul networks will be to provide fibre connections to remote hub sites and reduce the dependancy on multiple microwave links, this is becoming more and more of a reality as fibre is getting cheaper to supply.

Fibre is cheap. Digging, not so much.

There are several companies currently buying up the lease's etc. to the sites here in Ireland which may lead to further problems, for the maintenance providers, some of these companies have been going around the country removing the vendor locks from the sites and replacing them with their own locks without informing anyone.

Locking someone out of a site to which they have a right of entry is a problem easy solved with a pair of bolt cutters. Not that I've ever done a thing like that...

watty · 28-06-2013 10:43pm

The most expensive aspect of Microwave can be Comreg's spectrum tax. Why isn't the VAT on the services sold enough?

daithi7 · 21-12-2013 4:36pm

Does anyone know when 3 are likely to start using O2 as their mobile back haul provider. I am currently a 3 customer but find their coverage and reliability suspect at best in Cork city suburbs, whereas O2 who I was with previously were excellent for coverage , but a good deal more expensive unfortunately.

So I'm wondering whether to hold out until 3 start using the O2 mast network, which I presume they'll do when their proposed takeover of o2 goes through and assuming they can exit their Vodafone deal. Anyone got any ideas??

watty · 21-12-2013 8:14pm

You don't say if you use mobile as Mobile, or as a fixed solution.
You don't say if mainly phone or data use.

In any case I doubt anyone knows.

bealtine · 21-12-2013 8:26pm

watty wrote: »

In any case I doubt anyone knows.

or particularly cares either as mobile will never be broadband no matter what the shiny brochures and endless sales pitches seem to say

Pete69 · 21-12-2013 8:29pm

The competition regulartors will make their final decision to approve the sale of o2 to 3 on the 24th March 2014. As for 3's backhaul, they are still consolidating sites with VF, mostly cutting their traffic over to VF backhaul. Therefore their backhaul will continue to be split over 3/BT, and VF networks for now. One possibility when the sale goes through will be for 3's customers to be moved onto the o2 network.

Pete69 · 23-12-2013 1:48pm

daithi7 wrote: »

Does anyone know when 3 are likely to start using O2 as their mobile back haul provider. I am currently a 3 customer but find their coverage and reliability suspect at best in Cork city suburbs, whereas O2 who I was with previously were excellent for coverage , but a good deal more expensive unfortunately.

So I'm wondering whether to hold out until 3 start using the O2 mast network, which I presume they'll do when their proposed takeover of o2 goes through and assuming they can exit their Vodafone deal. Anyone got any ideas??

Daithi, as the only operator who will still engineer, build, and operate their own network, if I had a choice I would go with Meteor subject to pricing packages local coverage etc. Although I've no personal experience of their network, customer care etc.

Even if 3 were to cut their traffic over to O2's back haul network, this would require some major upgrading to O2's exisiting network to accommodate the extra bandwidth required to carry the additional traffic. Therefore it's unlikely you would see any improvement any time soon.

Capt'n Midnight · 13-01-2014 8:02pm

Pete69 wrote: »

Daithi, as the only operator who will still engineer, build, and operate their own network, if I had a choice I would go with Meteor subject to pricing packages local coverage etc. Although I've no personal experience of their network, customer care etc.

Eircom are about half way through the process of getting rid of over 1/3rd of their workforce, and outsourcing even more stuff.

http://pressroom.eircom.net/press_releases/article/eircom_statement/

www.independent.ie/irish-news/staff-keep-vans-as-eircom-cuts-830-more-jobs-29762669.html

Pete69 · 15-01-2014 9:54am

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Eircom are about half way through the process of getting rid of over 1/3rd of their workforce, and outsourcing even more stuff.

http://pressroom.eircom.net/press_releases/article/eircom_statement/

www.independent.ie/irish-news/staff-keep-vans-as-eircom-cuts-830-more-jobs-29762669.html

Be that as it may, the Meteor staff have been ring fenced, and even those who expressed an interest in redundancy are still there for the fore see able future.

The Cush · 16-01-2014 1:36am

Article in the Irish Times about Eircom's concern regarding competition once the merger goes ahead.

Eircom wants the Commission to reallocate some spectrum held by Three and O2 to Meteor and Vodafone.

Three will have 3 blocks of spectrum in the 900 band when the merger goes ahead with Meteor and Vodafone having 2 blocks each. They also want 1800 and 2100 spectrum reallocated also.

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/technology/eircom-pushes-eu-for-concessions-from-merger-of-mobile-rivals-three-and-o2-1.1652931

One error I saw in the article, Three doesn't currently have any spectrum in the 800 band. Meteor, O2 and Vodafone have 2 blocks each. So no problem there.

watty · 16-01-2014 9:31am

AFAIK Three only has 3G 2100 spectrum. I see IT is maintaining their standard of Tech journalism.

There should be one wholesale only operator with all the Mobile Bands/Spectrum. This would almost double apparent average capacity and benefit consumers and operators. It wouldn't benefit Comreg.

The Cush · 16-01-2014 10:46am

watty wrote: »

AFAIK Three only has 3G 2100 spectrum.

mid 2015-2030 Assignments (2021 expiry for 2100 band)
|

O2

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3

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Vodafone

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Meteor

800|

2x10

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-

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2x10

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2x10

900|

2x10

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2x5

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2x10

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2x10

1800|

2x15

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2x20

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2x25

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2x15

2100|

2x15

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2x15

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2x15

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2x15

current 2013-2015 Assignments (2021 expiry for 2100 band)
|

O2

|

3

|

Vodafone

|

Meteor

800|

2x10

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-

|

2x10

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2x10

900|

2x10

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2x5

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2x10

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2x10

1800|

2x15

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2x10

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2x15

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2x20

2100|

2x15

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2x15

|

2x15

|

2x15

3's spectrum is fully liberalised for 3G/4G use
O2's 1800 spectrum GSM only until 2015

clohamon · 17-01-2014 4:00pm

The Cush wrote: »

Eircom wants the Commission to reallocate some spectrum held by Three and O2 to Meteor and Vodafone.

Very hard to see how EU/ComReg could just arbitrarily re-allocate spectrum that was purchased fairly (we presume) at auction on the basis of a seventeen year business plan.

Re-allocating spectrum does not address the issue of market dominance. If that's the issue.

watty · 17-01-2014 6:16pm

When did Three get 900 & 1800MHz?
What were they doing with it?
How long after getting it did they do anything?

On a related note will sale of GSM only phones be banned or consumer warned 2 years before GSM is turned off? The 6 months notice the operator has to give Comreg is hardly enough and when is public told?

If you want long battery life and/or big real buttons you don't buy a Smartphone. Smartphones are poor usability and poor battery life and also pointless if you want just phone calls + a bit of SMS. Almost all non-Smart phones for sale currently are GSM only.
Almost all Smart phones are now touch screen. The Candybar, Flip and Slider Smart phones are gone. Only a few blackberry style Smartphones have buttons and they are awkward shape for pockets.

The hyped 800MHz allocations and 900 re-purposing from GSM to 3G will just mean more dropped voice calls and only use for data if 800MHz was uplink and 900 MHz downlink for one operator.

You would save the middle of band duplex guard band wasted on 800MHz and 900MHz, extra spectrum.
Take Digiweb's 872/921 and GSM-R in the 900MHz band too.
The guard would be 862 to 872 (864 to 868 is SRD "licence" free low power devices and could continue to be so). The 900MHz band was designed for 0.2Mbps GSM channels. It's too small for minimal 3x 5MHz per operator or sensible 3 x 20MHz per operator (Duplex so more than twice the spectrum needed). So too is 800MHz.

Comreg & Ofcom. Zero innovation and purely out to maximise Licence Revenue.

20MHz channels allows peak 100Mbps and average 4Mbps to 8Mbps rather than peak 20Mbps and average 1Mbps to 2Mbps of 5MHz channels.

You need triplets (3 x channels) to build any kind of sensible cellular network without major holes.

So anyone with 2 x whatever needs to split it to 5MHz channels. 2 x 5 MHz is joke allocation for 3G or 4G. Only works for GSM (GSM uses 0.2MHz channels).
Obviously the scheme was to raise revenue from licences not use Spectrum efficiently or really have better Mobile Internet.

Re-allocation of spectrum I think did happen in UK, the merged outfit as a condition of allowing merger had to flog off part?

But the only re-allocation that makes sense is ALL of it to a single Wholesale operator (which could be owned jointly by all the operators, Comreg would oppose this sensible idea on spurious ground of "lack of competition")

clohamon · 17-01-2014 6:48pm

watty wrote: »

On a related note will sale of GSM only phones be banned or consumer warned 2 years before GSM is turned off?

Who said GSM would be turned off? Isn't GSM allowable under the new licences? Given the energy requirements of 3G vs 4G it might be a better idea to turn off 3G rather than GSM.

The Cush · 17-01-2014 6:49pm

clohamon wrote: »

Very hard to see how EU/ComReg could just arbitrarily re-allocate spectrum that was purchased fairly (we presume) at auction on the basis of a seventeen year business plan.

Re-allocating spectrum does not address the issue of market dominance. If that's the issue.

When T-Mobile and Orange merged their mobile businesses to become Everything Everywhere Limited the EC required the merged company to sell part of its 1800MHz spectrum (2X15MHz) by a specific time. It was sold to Three(UK).

We'll see what happens in the coming months, the provisional deadline for the EC decision is the end of April next

http://ec.europa.eu/competition/elojade/isef/case_details.cfm?proc_code=2_M_6992
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-13-1048_en.htm

The Cush · 17-01-2014 6:51pm

watty wrote: »

When did Three get 900 & 1800MHz?

http://www.comreg.ie/publications/information_notice_-_results_of_the_multi-band_spectrum_auction.583.104236.p.html

The Cush · 17-01-2014 6:52pm

clohamon wrote: »

Isn't GSM allowable under the new licences?

Yes.

Fogmatic · 17-01-2014 11:36pm

I looked up GSM, and it seems to mean 2G (is that right?)
Re the idea of turning it off, I hope it wouldn't apply to 2G-only areas?

The Cush · 18-01-2014 12:43am

Fogmatic wrote: »

I looked up GSM, and it seems to mean 2G (is that right?)
Re the idea of turning it off, I hope it wouldn't apply to 2G-only areas?

Yes, 2G refers to GSM and there is no plan to switch it off. 2G only areas will in due course be upgraded to at least 3G.

Fogmatic · 18-01-2014 2:39pm

Thanks, The Cush.
I've just developed a suspicious mind over the years, when it comes to comms companies!.
(Though the idea of killing the 2G revenue stream in this country did seem a bit strange).

watty · 18-01-2014 9:52pm

clohamon wrote: »

Who said GSM would be turned off? Isn't GSM allowable under the new licences? Given the energy requirements of 3G vs 4G it might be a better idea to turn off 3G rather than GSM.

The Equipment vendors are persuading Mobile Operators that should replace GSM with 3G. 02 and others have done 900MHz 3G trials. The operators only have to give Comreg 6 months notice.

Voice calls & SMS are same price on ANY mobile system and are about x10 more profitable than Data. Though 4G ONLY has VOIP, you'd need 3rd party VOIP to use data rate other than voice rate. The Operators own VOIP on 4G will be similar price to existing Voice calls. If they do it at all. You may find a Smart phone with 4G uses GSM or 3G depending on coverage for all voice calls and never does 4G for voice calls. VOIP and Data is more problematic for handing over between cells or networks without dropping a call. It can be done. A lot of the development was done testing handover between 3G/GSM to "VOIP on WiFi on Broadband" and "VOIP on WiFi on Broadband" to 3G/GSM. It's not simple and voice on 4G looks pretty much like VOIP on WiFi to a network. Voice on 4G such that it would interwork like ordinary mobile was an afterthought. The original spec was pretty much plain TCP/IP & UDP via modems on Computers. Only 3rd party applications, network purely as Internet connection and no operator applications at all.

Once the Introductory stuff is over expect 4G to be expensive. 3G is a ghastly system. GSM is superior for voice and slow data. 4G superior for faster but bursty data.

In 5MHz of spectrum GSM EDGE can support four times as many users (25 x 200 KHz channels) reliably as 3G at the SAME speed! 3G/HSPA is only fast if there are less than 5 simultaneous connections per sector. EDGE2 allows peak 2.4Mbps instead of 1.2MBps of Edge but because of Vendor pressure selling 3G it hasn't been implemented in Ireland. 2.4Mbps is higher than average speed of 21Mbps 3G/HSPA+! Also no cell breathing and in 5MHz spectrum in SAME 900MHz and topology if the EDGE+ users were all getting 2.4Mbps the 3G /HSPA+ on the "21Mbps" mast would see less than 1.2Mbps as it is rubbish CDMA. CDMA is designed for SINGLE pairs of encrypted users, a stupid protocol for 1 to many Mobile.

But GSM has been given its death notice by vendors. There is even an IP only version of GSM (ERAN). While 4G can be less power hungry than 3G, for voice GSM is best. Never again will we have phones that last a week. It's charge every night.

The Cush · 18-01-2014 10:31pm

I read somewhere in the last few months that as masts were being upgraded for 4g the existing 2g/3g equipment was being replaced with combined 2g/3g/4g units.

The Cush · 20-01-2014 4:48pm

The Cush wrote: »

current 2013-2015 Assignments (2021 expiry for 2100 band)
|
O2
|
3
|
Vodafone
|
Meteor

800|
2x10
|
-
|
2x10
|
2x10

900|
2x10
|
2x5
|
2x10
|
2x10

1800|
2x15
|
2x10
|
2x15
|
2x20

2100|
2x15
|
2x15
|
2x15
|
2x15

mid 2015-2030 Assignments (2021 expiry for 2100 band)
|
O2
|
3
|
Vodafone
|
Meteor

800|
2x10
|
-
|
2x10
|
2x10

900|
2x10
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2x5
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2x10
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2x10

1800|
2x15
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2x20
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2x25
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2x15

2100|
2x15
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2x15
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2x15
|
2x15

3's spectrum is fully liberalised for 3G/4G use
O2's 1800 spectrum GSM only until 2015

Combined 3/O2 spectrum if the merger was to go through unchanged

current 2013-2015 Assignments (2021 expiry for 2100 band)
|

O2/3

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Vodafone

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Meteor

800 (6 blocks)|

2x10

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2x10

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900 (7 blocks)|

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2x10

1800 (12 blocks)|

2x25

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2x20

2100 (12 blocks)|

2x30

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2x15

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|16 blocks|10 blocks|11 blocks
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800/900|5 blocks|4 blocks|4 blocks
1800/2100|11 blocks|6 blocks|7 blocks

mid 2015-2030 Assignments (2021 expiry for 2100 band)
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O2/3

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Vodafone

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Meteor

800 (6 blocks)|

2x10

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2x10

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2x10

900 (7 blocks)|

2x15

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2x10

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2x10

1800 (15 blocks)|

2x35

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2x25

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2100 (12 blocks)|

2x30

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2x15

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2x15

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|18 blocks|12 blocks|10 blocks
|||
800/900|5 blocks|4 blocks|4 blocks
1800/2100|13 blocks|8 blocks|6 blocks

This is what Eircom/Meteor wants the EC to do with the spectrum the merged company will hold according to another Irish Times article last week

Eircom’s view is that four blocks of spectrum (in the 1800 and 2100 megahertz categories) should be allocated to Meteor to help level the playing field. It also wants one of Three/O2’s blocks at 900 megahertz put out to tender.

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/financial-services/cantillon-juggling-for-position-on-bandwidth-1.1654088

The Cush · 27-01-2014 2:00am

Article in the Sunday Business Post on this - "EC steps up investigation into Three Ireland's €850m bid for O2"

The Commission's competition directorate is gearing up to publish a detailed statement outlining the conditions that it believes must be met before the takeover is completed. The statement could be released as early as this week.

Industry sources said that the Commission was expected to ask Three Ireland to reallocate some 4G spectrum to its Irish rivals, Meteor and Vodafone

...
Three is understood to have cancelled leave for staff in the second quarter, in anticipation of the deal being cleared by the regulators. A company spokeswoman said she was unable to comment on what was an internal human resources issue.

The takeover was due to have be completed by next month. Industry sources believe it is now likely to be delayed by at least 2 months, as Hutchison Whampoa, the owner of 3, studies the EU ruling and takes steps to comply with it.

The Commission is also examining the potential implications of a network sharing agreement between O2 and Meteor, the mobile operator owned by Eircom.

...
It it gets the green light, the aquisition of O2 will boost Three's market share from 9 per cent to 37.5 per cent, and leave it with two million users.

The European Commission opened an in-depth investigation into the €780 million bid by Hutchison for O2 Ireland two months ago and it is understood will send a statement of objections laying out its concerns to Hutchison this week.

The acquisition of Telefonica’s mobile business in Ireland would quadruple Hutchison’s share of the Irish market to 37.5 per cent, behind market leader Vodafone’s 39.4 per cent but ahead of rival Meteor’s 19.7 per cent.

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/regulator-might-look-for-concessions-on-o2-deal-1.1669591

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/brussels-will-force-3-to-make-concessions-over-o2-deal-29954665.html
http://www.rte.ie/news/business/2014/0127/500483-three-o2-acquire/
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/27/hutchison-wham-telefonica-eu-idUSL5N0L11K620140127
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-27/hutchison-whampoa-said-to-face-eu-complaint-over-02-irish-deal.html

The Cush · 03-02-2014 4:13pm

Press release from 3 Ireland this morning

3rd February 2014 – Three Ireland can confirm that it has received a Statement of Objections from the European Commission which sets out the concerns of the Commission in relation to Three’s proposed acquisition of O2 Ireland. We are analysing the Statement and we will be responding to the Commission’s concerns.

The issuing of a Statement of Objections was not unexpected in the context of a Phase 2 merger investigation and the previous statements by the Commission that it would take a close look at in-country telecoms mergers going from 4 to 3 operators.

The Irish mobile market is currently characterised by one clear dominant market leader with the 3 other operators lagging behind. Without Three’s acquisition of O2 Ireland and the scale it can achieve, this gap will only increase. Competition in Ireland will be better served by three credible operators with sufficient scale to compete for a total market of 4.6 million, than by the current market structure.

The acquisition of O2 Ireland will provide Three with the scale and financial strength necessary to compete aggressively in the market to the benefit of Irish consumers. It will give Three the means to challenge the number one player in the Irish market by rolling out a state of the art 4G/LTE network and providing the best value and service to its customers.

In our view, the acquisition will increase competition and bring much needed investment to the Irish market. Nonetheless, Three will put forward strong and effective remedies to address the Commission’s concerns. Three will detail these and other points in our response to the Commission’s Statement of Objections, and are confident that we can convince the Commission of the pro-competitive benefits of the proposed acquisition. We will continue to work with the Commission in order to achieve a positive outcome.

http://press.three.ie/press_releases/three-ireland-comments-following-the-issue-of-the-commissions-statement-of-objections/

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/technology/ec-sets-out-objections-to-three-s-acquisition-of-02-1.1677680
http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/3-ireland-confirms-objections-from-european-commission-over-o2-acquisition-29974474.html
http://www.rte.ie/news/business/2014/0203/501914-3-ireland/

The Cush · 04-02-2014 2:55am

From today's Irish Times - http://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/technology/objections-to-three-s-takeover-bid-for-o2-set-out-by-european-commission-1.1678403

The European Commission has set out its objections to Three Ireland owner Hutchison Whampoa’s bid of up to €850 million to take over O2 Ireland.

The commission’s competition directorate declined to comment yesterday on the contents of the letter it sent to Hutchison/Three.

It is understood, however, that the commission has raised four main items of concern over the bid, which will be decided upon by regulators by April 24th.

1. Market dominance

Firstly, the commission has said it has concerns about reducing the Irish mobile market from four network owners – currently Vodafone, Three, O2 and Meteor – down to three.

With Vodafone and a combined O2-Three both at about 40 per cent of the market, the commission is concerned that the Eircom-owned Meteor will be too weak as the third player to challenge the dominance of the other two.

2. Spectrum

Secondly, the commission is concerned that the combined entity will have too much spectrum, with both O2 and Three having spent substantial amounts in the 2012 €480 million spectrum auction overseen by Comreg, the regulator.

The commission is understood to have asked Hutchison/ Three if it would be prepared to divest some of the spectrum of the combined entity.

Three and O2 together own three blocks of 900 megahertz spectrum compared with two each for Meteor and Vodafone. The combined entity would also own seven blocks of 1,800 megahertz spectrum, more than twice the amount owned by Eircom and also more than Vodafone.

3. Existing network sharing agreements

Thirdly, the commission has raised concerns about whether the combined entity would persist with the network-sharing arrangement that Eircom has with O2. Three already has its own network-sharing deal with Vodafone.

The commission is understood to have asked if the combined entity would be prepared to continue with the O2-Meteor sharing arrangement.

4. MVNO

Finally, the commission has asked Hutchison/Three if it can guarantee that there will be no significant obstacle to the provision by it of a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) arrangement for any other potential operator that wants to enter the market, using its infrastructure.

Three is understood to have already concluded the terms of such an agreement with cable operator UPC. This would allow UPC to enter the quad-play – telephone, broadband, television and mobile – area that is currently occupied solely by Eircom.

What happens next

Three is understood to be working on its response, which is likely to be submitted at around the end of the month.

Also http://www.independent.ie/business/technology/commission-objects-to-3s-proposed-takeover-of-o2-29976057.html

While the matter is being decided principally by the European Commission, a spokesman for the Irish Competition Authority said that it remained part of an advisory committee involved in discussions of possible remedies.

The Competition Authority is also to be consulted on the proposed decision of the commission, according to the spokesman.

A decision is expected from the European Commission by March 24.

clohamon · 04-02-2014 1:03pm

The Cush wrote: »

From today's Irish Times - http://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/technology/objections-to-three-s-takeover-bid-for-o2-set-out-by-european-commission-1.1678403

2. Spectrum
Secondly, the commission is concerned that the combined entity will have too much spectrum, with both O2 and Three having spent substantial amounts in the 2012 €480 million spectrum auction overseen by Comreg, the regulator.

The commission is understood to have asked Hutchison/ Three if it would be prepared to divest some of the spectrum of the combined entity.

Three and O2 together own three blocks of 900 megahertz spectrum compared with two each for Meteor and Vodafone. The combined entity would also own seven blocks of 1,800 megahertz spectrum, more than twice the amount owned by Eircom and also more than Vodafone.

ComReg ties up its two year consultation into spectrum trading just in time.
http://www.comreg.ie/_fileupload/publications/ComReg1411.pdf

watty · 04-02-2014 10:00pm

All irrelevant to the REAL issues.

sawdoubters · 04-02-2014 10:03pm

Europeans not going to allow it unless it sells some off its spectrum

and also allow meteor to use some of its towers

it would be bad for Ireland expect phone bills to go up 20 euro month

ahnowbrowncow · 04-02-2014 10:36pm

watty wrote: »

All irrelevant to the REAL issues.

What are the real issues? Your statement is quite ambiguous.

Three to buy O2 Ireland for €780 million

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