Vodafone takes full control of Three in £4.3bn deal Telecoms Vodafone is to take full ownership of Vodafone Three for £4.3bn in the latest twist in the blockbuster merger between two of Britain’s largest mobile networks. The FTSE 100 telecoms giant said it will buy out the 49 per cent stake held by CK Hutchison, the Chinese owner of Three, to give it full control [...]
Landowners hit as government pushes through 5G rent cuts Tech Mobile network operators are set to cut rents on around 15,000 existing phone masts from April, City AM understands, dragging decades-old agreements into a new regime that has already allowed payments to landowners to be cut by up to 90 per cent. The move will bring legacy mast contracts, many signed with farmers, schools, hospitals [...]
Ofcom targets BT and Three as summer outages exposed emergency call risk telecoms The UK’s telecoms regulator has launched investigations into BT and Three after network failures this summer left customers unable to make calls, including to the emergency services. Ofcom said on Monday that the probes will assess whether the two operators complied with their legal dutiesm after separate incidents caused nationwide disruption. Telecoms giant BT notified [...]
Virgin Media slapped with £24m Ofcom fine December 1, 2025 Ofcom has dished out its biggest fine of the year after accusing telecoms giant Virgin Media of failing to protect vulnerable customers. The media regulator has hit Virgin Media with a £23.8m fine over its treatment of customers during a planned transition from analogue to digital landlines. Virgin Media notified Ofcom over incidents connected with [...]
Vodafone chief shakes off Budget gloom as shares jump November 11, 2025 Vodafone’s chief executive has said the forthcoming Budget is “not a big thing for us” after the telco defied wider economic gloom to deliver a dividend hike. The FTSE 100 firm said it saw 1.2 per cent growth in the UK in the six months to the end of September, while Germany, a key market, [...]
BT bets on budget provider amid broadband customer losses November 6, 2025 BT has lost more broadband customers than expected, a sign that even its £15bn fibre rollout is struggling to retain customers from drifting to cheaper rivals. Openreach, BT’s network arm, reported a net loss of 242,000 broadband lines in the second quarter of its financial year, worse than the 205,000 analysts had pencilled in. The [...]
TalkTalk to cut more jobs in ‘necessary’ move October 14, 2025 TalkTalk has announced it is looking to cut up to 100 jobs in its consumer business in a move it has described as “necessary”. The company, which has bases in Salford and London, said the move forms part of its bid to ‘returning to its challenger roots’ to become more ‘focused, agile, and dynamic’. A [...]
BT urges government action amid standalone 5G rollout October 2, 2025 BT has called on the UK government to remove regulatory barriers and accelerate mobile network expansion. The call comes as the FTSE 100 giant announced plans to deliver standalone 5G (5G+) coverage to 99 per cent of the UK population by 2030, four years ahead of rival operators’ stated projections. Speaking at the Connected Britain [...]
‘We’re already at peak government inflicted costs’ BT chief warns Chancellor September 24, 2025 The boss of BT has joined a chorus of chief executives urging the Chancellor not to raise the costs of doing business at her forthcoming Budget, warning the telecoms industry was “already at peak government inflicted costs.” In an on-stage interview with City AM at the Connected Britain conference on Wednesday, Allison Kirkby said: “We [...]
Tesco Mobile returns to profit thanks to Samsung Galaxy September 9, 2025 Tesco Mobile returned to profit thanks to Brits’ demand for premiums handsets such as the Samsung Galaxy S24 series, it has been revealed. The provider, which is a joint venture between the supermarket giant and Virgin Media 02, has posted a pre-tax profit of £1.2m for 2024, new accounts filed with Companies House show. The [...]