EU blocks Three bid to takeover O2
The EU has blocked the CK Hutchison - owner of Three UK - bid to take over Telefonica's O2 operations in the UK due to concerns that the merger would limit customer choice and increase prices.
The EU has blocked the CK Hutchison - owner of Three UK - bid to take over Telefonica's O2 operations in the UK due to concerns that the merger would limit customer choice and increase prices.
Three UK owner Hutchison Whampoa has agreed to purchase O2 UK from Telefónica for £10.25 billion. Talks between Hutchison Whampoa and Telefonica began in January of this year. Now this is all but a done deal, with approval needed from British regulators, which is expected to take up to a year. From O2: Hutchison Whampoa has today agreed definitive terms to acquire O2 in the UK...
It was reported a few days ago that Three UK was looking to purchase O2 from Telefonica, and now the deal has reportedly been confirmed at a price of 10 billion pounds (roughly 15 billion US dollars) and is expected to be finalized Friday morning. The report comes from The Financial Times, which says: The deal to merge O2, Britain's second-biggest mobile operator, with Hutchison...
The UK government has managed to reach an agreement with local operators to work on the issue of nationwide 'not-spots': areas restricting access to basic mobile functions due to weak signal coverage. EE, O2, Three and Vodafone will invest a guaranteed £5 billion to improve mobile infrastructure by 2017 with the aim to provide 90 per cent of the UK with both voice and text coverage....
New legislation could be in the works to effectively force UK operators to offer roaming options for customers where signal is poor. The UK government continues to work with mobile carriers on a solution to address black spots and areas where signal is hard to come by. The plan is to offer said roaming support to make it possible to switch between networks to maintain service, something...
Mobile operators in the UK have rejected government proposals on setting up national roaming, according to the Financial Times. Earlier this year, operators were urged by officials to look into the possibility of sharing infrastructure in rural parts of the country, as well as locations where consumers seemingly loose signal coverage. While this would help prevent customers experiencing...
With any new mobile subscription comes the requisite credit check, and for customers with low credit scores, the potential to be denied their service plan or phone of choice. To smooth out this process, Three UK has revealed that it'll soon introduce pre-credit checks to give potential customers "an indication" of whether they'll pass a credit check "without negatively affecting" credit...
Three UK has announced that it is partnering with Virgin Media to provide its customers with free access to Virgin's Wi-Fi network on the London Underground. Other carriers like EE, Vodafone and O2 have already made similar deals in the past. Three's Director of Customer Strategy, Danny Dixon, revealed to TechRadar that free Wi-Fi access will be available at 137 Underground stations...
UK mobile operator Three has announced new SIM-only plans, enabling consumers to save on calling 08- numbers. Free 0800 calls will be included, while other 08- numbers (084, 087, etc) will cost 5p per minute. The network will also be introducing new spending tools, which will prevent customers from exceeding allowances and limits on premium numbers. On top of all this, new allowances...
British mobile operator Three has announced that from July 1 it'll be adding five new countries to its "Feel at Home" scheme, which allows customers to use their UK voice, text and data allowances abroad without additional roaming charges. The new countries are France, Switzerland, Israel, Finland and Norway — bringing the total number of Feel at Home territories up to 16 from the...
UK mobile operator Three has launched a new insurance option for consumers – Three Rescue{.nofollow}. Following a report shared by the network detailing how British smartphone owners place a value of over £1,000 on the contents of their handheld devices. The insurance starts from just £2 a month with full cover for stolen, lost or damaged smartphones. Not only do consumers pay for...
For UK mobile consumers there is just one main network left to join the 4G party and that's Three. As most folk will be aware - EE, Vodafone and O2 have already launched LTE across Great Britain, although EE are clearly leading the way as they had a big head start. This means that Three have some catching up to do. The network recently rolled out 4G to a select few thousand people...
The last of the major UK networks have now launched the BlackBerry Z10. Why they were a little late to the party I have no idea but you can now pick up the Z10 both online and in store from Three. For the best value you may want to consider the One Plan from Three which gives users All-You-Can-Eat data. This will cost £36 per month on a 24 month contract with a one off upfront fee of £...
At the moment, EE is the only carrier to offer LTE (or 4G) in the U.K. Even though Orange and T-Mobile are part of EE, you must go on an EE specific contract to avail of the 4G speeds. This also comes at a premium and with it only reaching certain cities around the country, some may say it is not currently worth getting an EE contract for 4G just yet. Three UK has recently announced...
In addition to carriers in the UK announcing availability dates, Three UK has opened up their device preorder registration. As of now, they've not announced any pricing or definitive release dates but it as many other carriers in the UK are rolling out as of January 31st, it's fair to say Three UK will be around the same timeframe: “We’re delighted to announce that the highly...
Three UK is currently offering customers who purchase a BlackBerry smartphone on Pay As You Go from them free BIS for a year. That's right, no need to pay £5 a month for your BlackBerry data for one year. One thing to note with this offer is that you must top up at least £10 every 28 days for the offer to stay valid. With your £10 top-up you can get the All-in-One 10 Add-on. This...
Some interesting developments have happened in the 4G LTE saga that has dominated the UK news in the last day or so. We told you yesterday that Everything Everywhere (the parent company of Orange and T-Mobile) has been given clearance by Ofcom, the government regulatory body, to roll out 4G in Great Britain later this year. The latest news is that Everything Everywhere have announced...
We told you just a couple of weeks ago that Three UK have the white BlackBerry Curve 9320 in stock and they kindly sent one over to me today to check it out. (I get excited about that sort of thing!) The white variant is of course just the same specs wise as the 9320 - just the color that is different. You will see from the video that it does retain the nice grey strip around its side...
The increasingly popular BlackBerry Curve 9320 has arrived in white and is now available to order from Three UK. The latest Curve model has been picking up momentum not just in the UK but also in Asia. Mainly for its low cost, however, the low cost shouldn't fool you. It's a small package that packs some umph. With the BBM hotkey, it makes it super convenient to access you BBM messages...
Following yesterday's launch of the BlackBerry Curve 9320, more UK networks have added the newest member of the Curve family to their roster of BlackBerry smartphones. Yesterday we saw T-Mobile UK and O2 add the listing to their websites, while Three confirmed that they will stock it but have no release date. Orange has also joined in on the Curve 9320 fun. Carphone Warehouse also...
Update: O2 UK also have the BlackBerry Curve 9320 available through their website. You can get the Curve 9320 on O2 UK for free on all tariffs. Today RIM officially announced the BlackBerry Curve 9320. Straight off the mark T-Mobile UK and Three UK have both announced through their respective Twitter accounts that the latest Curve model is available on their network. T-Mobile UK,...
Yesterday we saw O2 UK become the first UK network to update their BlackBerry 7 devices to 7.1. Today, Three UK has followed suit and announced via their Twitter account that they have released the update for the BlackBerry Bold 9900, Curve 9360 and the Torch 9810. Taking a look at the Three UK BlackBerry downloads page, it seems that the Torch 9810 is for 7.1.0.342, the Curve 9360 is...
A third UK network has joined in with the BlackBerry Bold 9790 love. Three UK announced via their Twitter account that the Bold 9790 is now available on their network. The smaller of the Bold series devices is available on Three's The One Plan for £35 a month on a 24-month contract, which gives you 2000 mins, 5000 texts and All-you-can-eat data. It is also available on Text plans 500...
Looking to get yourself a new BlackBerry Curve? Well Three UK has added the Curve 9360 to their BlackBerry collection and is available on 24-month contracts and pay as you go. The slimline Curve is the latest addition to the Curve family and runs BlackBerry 7. Monthly plans start at £25 a month and you can get it on pay as you go for £229.99. Incidentally, Three UK have stopped...
The final network to release the BlackBerry Bold 9900 is Three UK. The network release their second BlackBerry 7 device to their list of BlackBerry devices and is available for free on all three of their tariffs. Three UK also have the Bold 9900 available on pay as you go for a low, low price of £399.99. The lowest price I've seen for the BlackBerry Bold 9900 so far. It's even...