Virgin Media O2 sells Cornerstone Towers stake as revenue dips telecoms Virgin Media O2 has announced the sale of a stake in its mobile towers joint venture, Cornerstone, to infrastructure investor Equitix, bagging £186m in cash. The deal, which leaves the telco with just over 25 per cent of Cornerstone after selling 8.33 per cent, involves a 16.66 per cent stake in a holding company that [...]
How BT, EE, Plusnet, Talktalk, O2 and Virgin Media misled customers over mid-contract price rises telecoms Six of the UK’s biggest broadband providers, BT, EE, Plusnet, Talktalk, O2 and Virgin Media, failed to make mid-contract price increases clear to consumers, the advertising watchdog has ruled. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the companies misled consumers by placing important information about price rises separately to headline prices and in areas of less [...]
Vodafone and Three hit back at regulator’s concerns in merger battle telecoms Vodafone and Three have pushed back against the regulator’s concerns over their proposed £15bn merger, insisting that “outstanding issues can be resolved,” following the latest findings from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). In a response published today, the telecom firms said they “remain confident” in the deal, which would combine two of the UK’s [...]
Analysts see ‘path to approval’ for Vodafone and Three deal September 13, 2024 Although Britain’s competition watchdog has raised fresh concerns over the proposed £15bn tie-up between Vodafone and Three’s UK operations, analysts have suggested the findings of the latest probe are more positive than expected. In its provisional findings, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) flagged potential price increases for millions of mobile customers and warned of [...]
Virgin Media O2 to offload stake in mobile tower network September 13, 2024 Virgin Media O2 has reportedly agreed to offload roughly eight per cent of Britain's biggest mobile tower network as the telecoms group looks to fund the expansion of its fibre broadband and mobile operations.
Vodafone: Buybacks boost UAE’s sovereign wealth fund’s stake September 4, 2024 According to a recent update, the sovereign wealth fund of the United Arab Emirates now owns 15 per cent of Vodafone. While the Emirates Investment Authority (EIA) has not acquired any more shares in the communications giant, Vodafone’s ongoing share buyback has reduced the number of shares outstanding, boosting EIA’s position on the share register. [...]
‘It can be spaghetti out there’: can Cityfibre take on BT? August 22, 2024 The UK’s altnet industry is a tangled mess of “spaghetti” – at least, that’s how the boss of Cityfibre put it earlier this year. Altnets, or alternative networks, such as Cityfibre, Gigaclear and Community Fibre, have emerged as competitors to the UK’s broadband giants Virgin Media O2 and Openreach. Despite their smaller scale, they have [...]
August bank holiday weekend: UK set for £3bn boost as 11m Brits plan mini-break August 21, 2024 Brits will be packing up their cars and going for short breaks during the bank holiday weekend, with the UK economy set for a £3.1bn boost. Fresh figures from Visitengland said the August bank holiday weekend will mean 11m Britons planning an overnight trip somewhere in the country, bringing in billions of pounds to the [...]
Vodafone launches next stage of £3.4bn shareholder value return plan August 7, 2024 Vodafone has launched the next stage of its share repurchase programme worth up to €500m (£430m). In March, the firm said it would return €4bn (£3.4bn) to shareholders as part of a broader capital allocation review in an attempt to appease jittery shareholders following asset sales. It kicked off the return in May with an [...]
Vodafone-Three £15bn merger delayed further as CMA extends probe August 2, 2024 Vodafone and Three will have to wait longer before finding out if a £15bn planned merger has the seal of approval from the UK’s competition regulator.