UK reportedly gets to rule on Virgin/O2 merger
Somewhat surprisingly it looks like the European Union is going to do the right thing and stay out of a merger between two UK companies.
Normally the European Commission, or one of the countless other state appendages that sprout from the EU blob, would be all over something like the proposed merger between O2 UK and Virgin Media UK. But as you may have heard, the UK will no longer be part of the EU from the start of next year, so it won’t be the concern of the EU what our companies get up to.
That’s the theory, anyway, but in practice the EU wants to attach all sorts of conditions to the privilege of letting us do business with its member states and has shown itself very reluctant to return our sovereignty. So it comes as a pleasant surprise to see common sense momentarily superseding all the political posturing.
Reuters reports that the UK Competition and Markets Authority will be handed the baton on this matter after all, citing someone they chatted to who reckons they know a thing or two. The CMA asked for this to happen a month or so ago, so that’s a fairly rapid turnaround by EU standards. There hasn’t been an official confirmation yet, however, and Reuters source could be wrong.
Assuming they’re not, this is clearly the correct course of action. Even if the EU hadn’t made this concession, presumably it would have just been a matter of waiting until the new year, at which point its jurisdiction expires anyway. Since VM is a fixed-line player and O2 is mobile, there should be little grounds for objection to this merger, especially in a country that allowed BT to buy EE. Hopefully the CMA will turn this around quickly so they can get on with enjoying synergies and that sort of thing.
Seems very pro Brexit . Not really analysis but a rant. Ignores the.keg issues to make political points. Sad.
The keg issues are too painful for me to address.
and the key ones ?
Because you probably are aware that Brexit is going to be an economical nightmare, during a pandemic economical nightmare.
Whatever you say, boss.
I agree this is a very narrow minded pro Brexit way to look at this – and it is not necessarily in the interest of market parties (e.g. Telefónica and LGI in this case) for every country to develop its own diverging criteria to judge in-market consolidation. That, not a wish to meddle in domestic affairs of proud sovereign former imperial powers, has been the reasoning behind having the European Commission decide in all these transactions.
Sure, and now they can’t.
Brexit is going to happen. So why still rant about it. Maybe you should find a rock,and crawl back under it
And miss out on all this great banter? Never.
Just another useless rant about Pro Brexit. You forgot we can now have free roaming because of the EU!
Did I?
“two UK companies”
Telefonica, which owns O2, is a Spanish company. Liberty Global, which owns Virgin Media, is American.
Did you even know that? It doesn’t seem like facts are really your thing. Strange for a “journalist”
Which countries other than the UK does the merger affect?
Wow sense the Anti EU oozing between the lines.
Then the dismissive comments back to anyone challenging Brexit but I see this whenever you challenge it. They usual return rant is to quote “project Fear”…. its soon to be “project here”
project fear
Great so now we have our “sovereignty” back, the decision to allow this merger will be down to whether one of Boris’ mates are due to profit from it, rather than a fair economical assessment.
nice scare quotes
Very pro-brexit article, where is the content relatednto the merge? you should feel ashamed if you call yourself a journalist…
It’s funny how many people can be bothered to comment, but not to do so coherently or even intelligibly.