In a story picked up on by numerous weekend papers, and also MobileToday.co.uk, it would appear that Vodafone (and perhaps others) are mulling over a bid for T-Mobile.
As you might or might not know, the UK Mobile Operator market is a rather packed one, with O2, Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile and 3 as the infrastructure-owning Operators, then a bunch of MVNOs running services too!
Vodafone’s CEO, Vittorio Colao, was quoted as saying that consolidation of the MNO situation in the UK wouldn’t be a bad thing – and of course adding a number of millions of subs to the successful bidder wouldn’t do that Operator any harm either!
The current situation in the UK means we have a three-tier Operator classification in terms of sub – two big(ger) players in the form of O2 and Vodafone, with approaching 20m subs each, and then another tier with T-Mobile and Orange on it (with a third tier occupied by the smaller 3) – that makes T-Mobile, Orange, and 3 themselves all viable targets – but of course, which ones represents the best value? Well that would entirely depend on the profitability of the user base, and I’d imagine, the network fit with the topology of cell sites, between the purchaser, and er… purchasee! 🙂
On a more serious note though, I think we can expect to see signs of a purchase, and maybe even a rushed completion, within the next 12-24 months. As for the target(s), I say T-Mobile and 3.
[Original story via: MobileToday.co.uk]