Vodafone UK will call on competition authorities to impose stringent conditions on BT’s proposed acquisition of EE.
Jeroen Hoencamp, CEO of the telco’s domestic business, claimed in a report by the Financial Times on Monday that BT will control 45% of the country’s mobile spectrum after it completes the takeover.
Consequently, Vodafone plans to ask Ofcom to order BT to give up some of those frequencies. It will also call for the U.K. incumbent to be forced to improve wholesale prices and access to its broadband network.
"BT and EE is creating a dominant player in consumer and enterprise. There needs to be fair competition," said Hoencamp, in the report.
In December, BT began exclusive talks to acquire EE from parents Orange and Deutsche Telekom for £12.5 billion. The parties finalised the deal on 5 February.
The deal looks set to trigger dramatic changes to the U.K. telecoms sector, with Telefonica entering into talks to sell O2 UK to Hong Kong-based Hutchison Telecommunications, parent of 3UK, in January.
A tie-up between these two will create the country’s largest mobile operator by subscribers, leaving Vodafone as the smallest player in its home market.
In addition, Sky recently unveiled plans to enter the mobile sector via a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) deal with O2, while TalkTalk last November established a full MVNO agreement, also with O2, that will enable it to offer a full suite of mobile services.
Faced with stiffening competition, Vodafone is under pressure to build up its fixed-line assets and improve the quality of its mobile network.
The network "isn’t as good as it should be and isn’t as good as it can be," Hoencamp admitted in the FT report.
He said the operator plans to add 1,000 cell sites in London alone.
In addition, Vodafone is planning to re-enter the U.K. fixed-line market with a service based on a combination of the infrastructure acquired in the Cable & Wireless Worldwide deal and BT’s network. It is also preparing to launch a TV service.
