Written questions, answers and statements

Three: Vodafone Group

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Question for Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

UIN 129793, tabled on 23 January 2023

Question

Lucy Powell
Labour
Manchester Central
Commons

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had discussions with Ofcom on the impact of a potential merger between Three and Vodafone on regulation in the telecoms market.

Answer

Julia Lopez
Conservative
Hornchurch and Upminster
Commons

Answered on

26 January 2023

In October 2022, Vodafone and Three announced that they were in talks to merge their UK businesses.

It is the statutory responsibility of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to review mergers under the Enterprise Act 2002 with input from relevant sector regulators, in this case, it would be Ofcom. The Government has no role in the merger review or decision.

On 10 January 2023, I met Ofcom Chairman Lord Grade and one of the topics discussed was Ofcom’s view on the number of mobile operators in the market.

Answered by

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
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