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MADRID\/LONDON: Spain's Telefonica<\/a> SA is in talks with billionaire John Malone's Liberty Global Plc to explore a merger of its British mobile operator O2<\/a> with Liberty's Virgin Media<\/a> cable network company, two sources familiar with the matter said.
Telefonica has been weighing options for the mobile business since 2016 when a previous 10.3 billion pound deal takeover of O2 by Three UK, controlled by CK Hutchison Holdings, was blocked by European antitrust regulators, banking sources said.
A combination of O2 and Virgin Media would reshape Britain's telecoms<\/a> industry<\/a>, leaving Hutchison and Vodafone<\/a> stranded without their own fixed-line consumer networks.
If successful, the deal would end uncertainty around the fate of one Britain's biggest mobile operators after it was repeatedly touted as a possible candidate for an initial public offering in recent years.
It would also offer Telefonica a way to partially cash out from O2 while retaining a presence in Britain, which the company sees as one of its \"core markets\" along with Spain, Germany and Brazil.
Shares in Liberty were up 8.75% at $21.12 on the news, which was first reported by Bloomberg.
Malone, who transformed the pay-TV sector in the United States, combined Liberty's Dutch operations with Vodafone's in 2016 in a joint venture deal which could offer the blueprint for a merger of O2 and Virgin Media, one of the sources said. He added that discussions between Telefonica and Liberty were focusing on creating a joint venture equally owned by the two firms.
Telefonica has been active in Britain since 2006 when it took control of O2 and helped boost its customer base, securing 25.8 million contracts and pre-paid mobile subscribers at the end of 2019.
The business, led by boss Mark Evans, became the first British network to offer Apple's iPhone in 2007, a deal that attracted more high-value customers to the brand.
Telefonica's UK business, which includes O2, generated 7.11 billion euros in revenue in 2019, around 14.7% of the group's total, and had 34.5 mobile connections on its network.
Faced with dwindling profits, the company announced in November a turnaround plan to bring in 2 billion euros a year in extra revenue by hiving off part of its Latin American business and focusing on its core markets including Britain.
At the time, Chief Executive Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete said the company was open to reviewing possible merger options.
Liberty Global, which has controlled Virgin Media since 2013, sold its cable networks in Germany and central Europe to Vodafone in a $22 billion deal which was finalised last year, reigniting talk among analysts of a deeper tie-up in Britain.
The firm is expected to plough the cash from the Vodafone sale into the O2 deal, said the source who commented on a possible blueprint for a merger, cautioning no final agreement had been reached.
Virgin Media competes with UK pay-TV market leader Sky, owned by Comcast, in pay-TV, and with BT, Sky, TalkTalk and others in broadband. It had 6 million cable customers and 3.3 million mobile customers as of the end of 2019.
Despite its sizeable mobile business, Virgin Media has never owned its own wireless network. It instead pioneered the MVNO model, whereby an operator piggybacks on an existing network, 20 years ago with a partnership with the forerunner of BT's EE.
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西班牙电信英国O2和维珍媒体寻求合并
西班牙的Telefonica SA)正与亿万富翁约翰马龙全球Plc的自由探索的合并与自由的英国移动运营商O2的Virgin Media有线电视网络公司,两位知情人士说。
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马德里/伦敦:西班牙西班牙电话公司SA)正与亿万富翁约翰马龙全球Plc的自由探索合并的英国移动运营商O2与自由的维珍媒体有线电视网络公司,两位知情人士说。
西班牙电信移动业务一直在权衡选项自2016年之前的103亿英镑交易收购O2由三个英国控制的CK和记黄埔控股被欧洲反垄断监管机构、银行业消息人士说。
O2和维珍媒体将重塑英国的电信 行业,留下和记和沃达丰(Vodafone)没有自己的固定消费者网络链。
如果成功,这笔交易将结束不确定性的命运一个英国最大的移动运营商后反复吹捧为一个可能的候选人近年来首次公开发行(ipo)。
还将提供从O2电信部分现金的方法,同时保留在英国,该公司认为它的一个“核心市场”以及西班牙、德国和巴西。
自由公司股价上涨8.75%,至21.12美元的消息,这是第一次彭博社报道。乐动扑克
马龙,他改变了付费电视行业在美国,自由组合与沃达丰2016年的荷兰业务合资企业协议,可以提供蓝图O2和维珍媒体的合并,一名消息人士说。他补充说,西班牙电信和自由之间的讨论聚焦于创建一家合资企业同样拥有的两家公司。
西班牙电话公司自2006年以来一直活跃在英国控制了O2和帮助提高其客户群,获得2580万年合同和预付费手机用户在2019年底。
业务,由老板马克•埃文斯成为第一个英国网络提供苹果的iPhone在2007年,一项协议,吸引了更多的高价值客户的品牌。
西班牙电信的英国业务,包括氧气,产生71.1亿欧元的收入,2019年集团的总量的14.7%左右,34.5的移动网络连接。
面对日益减少的利润,该公司宣布11月检修计划带来每年20亿欧元的额外收入的剥离其拉丁美洲业务的一部分,关注其核心市场包括英国。
当时,何塞玛丽亚Alvarez-Pallete表示,该公司首席执行官开放审查可能的合并选项。
自由全球,维珍媒体控制自2013年以来,出售其有线电视网在德国和欧洲中部沃达丰以220亿美元去年敲定,重燃分析师谈论在英国一个更深层次的合作。
公司预计犁沃达丰出售到O2的现金交易,源说评论可能合并的蓝图,提醒双方还未达成最终协议。
英国维珍媒体与付费电视市场领导者的天空,康卡斯特旗下在付费电视,BT,天空,TalkTalk和其他宽带。它有600万有线电视用户,2019年底的330万手机用户。
尽管它庞大的移动业务,维珍媒体从来没有拥有自己的无线网络。它开创了MVNO模型,即经营者依托现有网络,20年前与合作BT的EE的先驱。
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