The mega-merger between two of the biggest mobile service providers in the UK could make getting online much easier
The UK’s phone network is notoriously poor.
You’re own experience is probably enough to convince you that we get a raw deal when it comes to 5G connectivity. If it’s not, a recent report by the Social Market Foundation, a think tank, found 5G users only have access to it around 10 per cent of the time. In India, people get the superfast mobile signal four times more frequently than we do.
“It’s generally agreed that the UK’s 5G networks are not as good as they should be,” said Kester Mann, director of consumer and connectivity at CCS Insight. “Especially for a market as digitally advanced as the UK.”
But that could soon change thanks to a recently-approved mega-merger between two of the biggest mobile service providers in the UK. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has granted the ability for Vodafone and Three to merge, creating the biggest mobile network operator in the country, serving 27 million customers.
The deal has been approved, the CMA says, because it should boost, rather than harm, competition in the sector. And Stuart McIntosh, chair of the independent inquiry group leading the CMA investigation that said the merger could go ahead, was clear about the impact it could have on our often-poor phone signal. He said it will “help enhance the UK’s 5G capability whilst preserving effective competition in the sector”.
It’s welcome news. Mobile internet signal, which allows us to make calls, use WhatsApp and browse the internet, is vital for areas where Wi-Fi isn’t available. But there are many different factors, from being in a rural area or inside a building to networks prioritising calls over internet data, that can lead to poor signal.
The promise to improve it is in large part down to a proposal Vodaphone and Three put forward to the CMA to help smooth the merger. The anti-monopoly authority had required the newly-formed company that would result from the merger of the two operators to invest in upgrading the network to improve its quality, after initial findings suggested the merger could harm competition.
As a result, the companies pledged to invest £11bn to improve the 5G network – a boon for an underperforming system that has been starved of the investment it needs for years.
It alone would outstrip the £9bn government advisors in a 2022 report believed the industry would invest itself by the end of the decade. It would also account for around a third of the investment the same advisors suggested would enable full 5G to be provided across the entire country.
And that’s good news, said Mann. “In the long term, it should certainly help our 5G connection. By creating a larger company with greater assets and resources to invest and to do so more efficiently, that should ultimately lead to a better digital experience for customers and improved network.”
A key question is who will benefit from the 5G improvement. Will it be just Three and Vodafone users?
“It should mean a better signal not only for the merger entity, but others will also have to step up,” said Paolo Pescatore, founder of PP Foresight, a technology analysis firm. Where the newly-established company promises to improve service, other providers will have to do the same in order to remain competitive. “The CMA has ensured that there is a commitment to network build to deliver better customer experience,” said Pescatore.
Certainly any cash at all would help improve things. At present, nearly 30 per cent of the country is not served a 5G connection by all the mobile network providers – though at least one operator is present in 93 per cent of the country.
There are other roadblocks to better 5G connections for us all beyond a single company merger, however. Unpicking hardware made by Huawei, a Chinese manufacturer the UK government demanded not be involved in key national infrastructure, has made it more challenging to see ubiquitous 5G connectivity. So too have planning regulations, and public opposition to 5G masts in some areas. But a stronger network provider promising to invest is good news for us all – and might finally fix that dodgy network connection.
But be patient: building new infrastructure takes time. “If you think about the challenges of merging two established mobile networks with different suppliers, across different footprints and different technology generations, it’s a pretty Herculean task,” Mann said.