What can Europe learn from Vodafone’s merger with Three in the UK?

In early December 2024, the UK’s Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) published its Final Report granting conditional approval to the merger of Vodafone and Three in the UK.

Although the final clearance process is ongoing, the CMA decision represents a watershed moment for how competition authorities can assess and approve market consolidation between mobile network operators.

On 4 March, Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera announced that the European Commission would soon launch a revision process covering merger guidelines in Europe.

We believe Europe can draw on the lessons of the CMA’s decision.

The CMA has shown the way for a significant shift in how to assess mobile mergers – all within existing rules and while retaining the role of such authorities to protect consumers and promote competition. As such, it is a real learning for all European competition authorities.

If a similar approach were taken in the EU, it would deliver Europe’s objectives, including growth and the competitiveness of the European economy.

The CMA did not arrive at its decision lightly. It took more than a year and reviewed tens of thousands of documents before it concluded that competition and consumers would benefit from the merger.

Therefore, the CMA’s decision and its remedy package are directly aimed at maximising consumer welfare and competitive rivalry, both in the short and longer term.

In doing so, the CMA has also recognised that both consumers and wider society benefit from transformative network investments, since these deliver long-term efficiencies and innovation, improved network coverage and quality, and security and resilience.

The decision locks in consumer benefits and enhances investment competition, while responding to changes in the competitive telecoms landscape.

As Europe turns to consider its own approach to competition, Vodafone has opened the conversation with a new report – What can we learn from Vodafone’s merger with Three in the UK?

We set out what we believe led to the change in approach to mobile mergers in the UK. And we put forward the main lessons for any future assessment of mobile mergers in the European Union.

We argue the EU should:

Globally competitive digital infrastructure is possible in Europe, but only if there are appropriate incentives to invest through enhanced scale.

A modern competition regime for telecoms across Europe is long overdue.

As the EU looks to revamp its competition rules, it can draw on these lessons from the Vodafone and Three merger in the UK.