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THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION is not too happy about mobile phone network Three Ireland’s plan to buy O2′s Irish operation
Three Ireland said today that it has received an official list of objections from the EC about the proposed acquisition of its rival, which was first announced last June.
The deal, worth €850 million, had to be subject to competition approvals at a European level because of the way it would change the Irish mobile phone market.
The European Commission opened an in-depth investigation into the deal two months ago.
If the sale gets approval to go ahead, Three and O2 combined would have around 2 million users in Ireland and would control about 37.5 per cent of the mobile phone market, behind Vodafone at 39.4 per cent but ahead of Meteor at just under 20 per cent. The deal would see O2 phased out in Ireland with all customers instead being on the Three network.
Three Ireland said it had been expecting the objections and said it is confident that the deal will still get the go ahead.
“The Irish mobile market is currently characterised by one clear dominant market leader with the 3 other operators lagging behind,” a spokesperson said. “Without Three’s acquisition of O2 Ireland and the scale it can achieve, this gap will only increase”.
Three said competition in Ireland would be better served with three ‘credible’ mobile phone networks to compete for a market of 4.6 million people, rather than the current structure.
The mobile phone network said the acquisition would increase competition and bring ‘much needed investment’ to the Irish market .
Three Ireland said it is analysing the objections and will put forward proposals to address the Commission’s concerns.
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I’ve been with three for about 7 years. One word- cheap! Two words- customer service . Don’t dial unless you speak Indian English/ Want an argument as its the worst in the world!!
I’ve been with them for about a year now! Cheap? Yes. But also can be a serious nightmare!I don’t know how you’ve stuck with them for 7 years!
No need to resort to racist slurs!
What racist slur are you referring to?
Isn’t that why they want o2? They see the one thing they do well.
o2 great customer service, terrible price plans. Three terrible customer service and great price plans.
Norman. Remember iamdebest, dublin not ireland? Thats tom dillon
Thanks Les.
My Three broadband service disappeared over the weekend. Technical support was unable to spell the words “Mallow” or “Cork”, but well able to read at length from their “Giving the customer the runaround” script. I asked if the nearest mast had been damaged by flooding (it’s on top of the Nagle mountains), and after putting me on hold, he was able to confirm this.
I speak Indian English
Even I can’t stand the customer service!
Although i do end up talking about curry with them :P
I must be the only person who has found their customer service to be excellent whenever I have needed it (problems with damaged masts etc).
I’ve never had a problem with them either. I found their customer service just fine – better than some other customer services I have dealt with.. It was a pleasant surprise, I had been warned about them being awful and they really weren’t..
No matter the company or service in the world, customer service is always 50/50…
mmmmmmmmmmmm curry !!!!!!
Not a racial slur,fact!
Having previously been with 3 their customer service is shocking at best.Poor Asian staff who do nothing but give u the run around and don’t deal with any issue you have only interested in €€.Only time I got anything from them was when I stopped paying my bill-they were willing to listen and deal with any grievance then.O2 on the other hand are the other end of the spectrum and A1 customer service-I guess u get what u pay for!
If the
Does the Irish Competition Authority actually do anything?
Like with the Ryanair-Aer Lingus potential takeover, the decision goes to Brussels.
Either they need to start taking ownership or they should spare us the cost of running them.
There are certain thresholds whereby the size of the deal means that the Commission, as opposed to the Irish Competition Authority, must consider the proposed transaction.
So if this deal went through, they’d still have less of a market share than Vodafone… If it meant they’d have a huge majority I’d understand the issues around competition/monopoly/etc but since they’ll still be behind Vodafone what’s the problem Europe!
Europe the 80′s rock band or the continent, I’m confused.
I was with Three for 2 years and they were useless! Yes the price plan was cheap but their customer support was awful. Decided to cancel my contract and it took me over 50 minutes to do so because once the cancellation team passed me to billing they didnt understand!
Them two networks are useless wouldn’t have anything to do with them! Vodafone all the way
I’ve heard and seen apple fanboys, xbox 360 fanboys, and all the rest. But a Vodafone fanboy? Fml. Vodafone offer nothing. No incentives to change.
They randomly ring me up, (because I used to have Internet DSL with them) and ask me my mobile call plan, they say ok we can’t match that. Stay where u are.
3 customer very happy with them cheap and no problems in the 3 years I’ve been with them , this deal will go thru EE own nearly 40% of the UK market from the merger or the t mobile and orange
I agree 3 years with multiple business phones… no problems at all.. CS is ok foe me
How are so many people still with Vodafone? Are they mostly Eircell customers that don’t know how to move?
This was expected. UPC are ready to launch their MVNO so as to launch a quad play but were waiting for this as 3 can then tell the regulator they are bringing in new competition.
I have tried both and O2 may be more expensive but you get what you pay for. Three has a lot of sharp practices and I was not happy with them at all they are not supporting Irish economy any way having call centre outside we are spending the money so the least they can do is support Iriish. If you want cheap look at 48 Months I have my daughter on it and it costa €10 a month and a better service than Three.
48 is owned by O2
I know that what’s your pount
Perhaps, much like your own comment, this of little relevance to the subject of the article being discussed (European Commission statement on company acquisition), but they actually do support Irish. I believe they have a head office in Dublin and know that employ Irish and Irish-resident staff also in their many retail stores, much like the other operators in the Irish market.
Where is there call centre located what are they paying there staff The my point is they should not be given the larger market share if so call centres that O2 have would be sent abroad for slave labour with little knowledge. I think that us to the point
Patrick, it’s not slave labour it’s the market rate if the economy.
Vodafone are far too expensive.. I’ve been with 3 for abt a year and am moving back to O2..the coverage for phones is awful..constantly dropping 3g and poor coverage outside of towns and the customer service is abysmal! The broadband is good in the same area that the phone coverage is dire!!
If you have a problem with 3 just send emails or go on the Facebook page and speak with them it has worked for me never had any issues when i done this,problem always solved
I quit Three 4 yeas ago solely because of their ” customer service”. A truly horrible experience which to this day makes my blood pressure go up just thinking about it. I’ll be quitting o2 if they buy them too.
John, with a good service you shouldn’t have to deal with customer service.
O 2 is better than 3 any day :) ‘V’ for R.I.P.
I hope denis o brien isn’t stuck in this deal.
I am quite looking forward the deal to go ahead. so far i have been with o2 for years then Vodafone for only one year and then three since 3 years.
By far Vodafone was my worst experience with slowest data ever (o2 in gprs was faster than Vodafone in 3g), customer service only good to call you every 2 month to check if you are happy but useless to deliver any service.
(i kept reporting issue which were ignored, to be told at their next customer satisfaction call, that they will make sure it is going to be dealt with and i will get a call back in the next week….guess what? my next call back was actually the next customer satisfaction check)
02 was the best customer service i ever had with a descent network.
Three excellent 3G service and fantastic “three like home” service when you roaming in a country where they are running!
They customer service was good enough for me.
Three + O2 I think it is the winning ticket to force Vodafone to review they positions!
I was on three broadband using a mifi and found it way too slow, infact, it was slower than the old dial up. As soon as the clock approached 6.30pm the ‘broadband’ download speed used to peak at around 130kbps where as in the morning or afternoon it would be around 2mbps. When I used to contact customer service the would give me the runaround and send me to different departments with each personnel harder to understand than previous one due to their accent but they could understand me and all my expletives.
Try tesco €35 A month and you get unlimited calls unlimited text unlimited data
I have had problems with 3 trust me veer clear
And know you see it Europe controls Ireland
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