Virgin and Vodafone MVNO deal will shake up the telecoms market
I bet the BT press office phones have been running hot since Virgin and Vodafone announced their deal. This is a huge story that will have a profound impact on the UK telecoms and MVNO market. For the first time in its 20 year history, the UK’s first ever MVNO is moving networks. (You’ll recall it all started with T-Mobile who merged with EE who became BT…) I have to say I was surprised initially but actually there have been signs of change brewing. Looking back a couple of years the likelihood of this switch became much greater when Virgin moved to become a full MVNO with BT. It was shrewd, but as anyone in this business will tell you there comes a time when things get a little close for comfort. There’s no escaping the fact that Virgin is now a major competitor for BT in broadband, fibre and TV. Maybe they felt that being that reliant on a key competitor was limiting their growth. But if I was a betting man, I’d think there’s a wider game in play. Summed up by the words Liberty Global. Vodafone’s relationship with the group means that true growth and scale could...
