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Tom Mockridge says remedies have potential to enhance, not curb, competition.
Virgin Media CEO Tom Mockridge on Friday came out in support of 3UK’s planned merger with O2, arguing that any remedies imposed could enhance competition.
"Any competition concerns can be addressed without blocking the proposed O2-3 transaction," he said.
3UK parent CK Hutchison’s proposed acquisition of O2 is under the spotlight, with the European Commission expected imminently to issue a statement of objections regarding the deal’s impact on competition in the mobile market.
Ofcom CEO Sharon White on Sunday expressed her concerns, warning that the merger could lead to higher prices and fewer choices for consumers.
CK Hutchison’s co-managing director Canning Fok came out fighting on Thursday, pledging to freeze prices and increase investment for the next five years, and sell off network capacity to safeguard competition.
"A combined O2-3 could have more to offer consumers and, crucially, more capacity for other providers who want to drive competition in their own right," Virgin’s Mockridge said.
Indeed, Virgin Media’s parent company Liberty Global capitalised on wholesale network access remedies imposed on Hutchison’s acquisitions of Orange in Austria and O2 in Ireland by launching MVNO services in the two countries.
"With the right remedies, this deal could stimulate not curb competition," Mockridge said.
