Telefonica to buy carrier O2 UK in January.
The companies have finally reached an agreement
for a sum of £10.3 billion, of course pending an
approval from regulators.
Hutchison Whampoa already owns Three UK.
If the deal goes through, the combined company
will overtake the current biggest UK carrier, EE,
and achieve around 40% market share and 33 million
customers. Hutchison bought Telefonica's O2 Ireland
in 2013 for €780 million. The company says that regulatory
approval may take up to a year so it will be a while
before the deal goes through. £9.25 billion will be
paid first, while the final £1 billion is subject to certain
agreed-upon performance metrics from O2. EE,
which itself is a merger of Orange and T-Mobile