Natural consolidation in the UK mobile sector would likely result in a duopoly if regulation reflected the economics of the market, according to Sean Williams, group director of strategy, policy and portfolio at fixed line incumbent BT.
“The number of…
Natural consolidation in the UK mobile sector would likely result in a duopoly if regulation reflected the economics of the market, according to Sean Williams, group director of strategy, policy and portfolio at fixed line incumbent BT.
“The number of operators in the UK mobile market is an artificial construct of regulation,” said Williams in an interview printed today by the FT.
An unregulated market would likely result in the survival of two players only, he continued to say, adding that the fundamental economics of the telecoms market needed to be reflected by the regulatory environment.
He also said given the circumstances, “you certainly do not want to be the fourth player in that market.”
France Telecom and Deutsche Telecom were given the go-ahead last year to merge their UK assets, Orange and T-Mobile, respectively, to form Everything Everywhere. Following this move, the number of mobile operators in the country fell from five to four: Everything Everywhere, Vodafone, O2 and Three.
Three, which is owned by Hong-Kong-based conglomerate Hutchinson Whampoa and is the UK’s smallest mobile operator, was unable to comment.
The debate over the ideal number of mobile operators to one market is long-running, as regulators look to increase scale to support increasing capex demands while companies seek synergies to keep pricing down.
