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BT To Buy UK 4G Leader EE For £12.5 Billion

Posted by Soulskill on from the go-big-or-go-home dept.

DW100 writes: The UK mobile market looks set for a radical shake-up after BT confirmed it is now in final stage discussions to buy EE for £12.5bn. The move will see the telecom giant return to the mobile market for the first time in over a decade and make the company the leader in both fixed and mobile markets. Whether or not telecom regulator Ofcom will agree to such a deal, though, remains to be seen.

39 comments

  1. so BT sell Cellnet, then buy it back? by ihtoit · · Score: 1

    Let me run the numbers, in 1999 Cellnet was worth around £7bn - right around the time that BT bought out Securicor's stake, giving Securicor a return of many thousands of times its original capital injection of £4million in 1983. In 2002 Cellnet demerged from BT and relaunched as O2. Year on year, Cellnet/O2/EE has consistently compounded its profit margin.

    Makes perfect sense.

    Fuck me...

    --
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    1. Re: so BT sell Cellnet, then buy it back? by gavint · · Score: 5, Informative

      No. You're correct that post-sell off BT Cellnet became O2, but EE is a completely different network that was formed by the merger of the Orange and T-Mobile UK operations. BT was in discussions to buy back O2 but opted for EE instead so O2 will remain a separate operator.

    2. Re: so BT sell Cellnet, then buy it back? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "so O2 will remain a separate operator."

      For all that I know, O2 is not a separate operator but part of Telefonica group.

    3. Re: so BT sell Cellnet, then buy it back? by Soluzar · · Score: 2

      The word 'separate' probably meant to imply "separate from BT", rather than "separate from all other parties". They may well be owned by Telefonica, but they have absolutely no current connection to BT.

  2. That's a lot of acronyms, isn't it? by Dave+Emami · · Score: 0

    But remember, seeing as how the VP is such a VIP, shouldn't we keep the PC on the QT? 'Cause if it leaks to the VC he could end up MIA, and then we'd all be put on KP.

    --

    "The Greens lynched a hacker in Chicago. Last month, but I think the body's still hanging from the old Water Tower."
    1. Re:That's a lot of acronyms, isn't it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's like texting for the rich and powerful.

    2. Re:That's a lot of acronyms, isn't it? by Richard_at_work · · Score: 2

      You are assuming they are all acronyms - BT is not, it used to be an acronym for British Telecom but that changed ages ago as the company was colloquially known as "BT" and thus chose to change its name to BT. EE also isn't an acronym, but again it used to be for "Everything Everywhere" but again the company renamed itself.

      The "UK" is, but 4G arguably isn't, its the common name of a technology.

    3. Re:That's a lot of acronyms, isn't it? by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: 4, Informative
      As a BT Customer, I can assure you that it stands for "Bloody Terrible", and the buyout is only feasible because the telecomms regulator is as toothless as a wet cabbage.

      My friends who use it, assure me that EE stands for "Extremely Expensive".

      --
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    4. Re:That's a lot of acronyms, isn't it? by MadKeithV · · Score: 3, Interesting

      As a BT Customer, I can assure you that it stands for "Bloody Terrible", and the buyout is only feasible because the telecomms regulator is as toothless as a wet cabbage.

      My friends who use it, assure me that EE stands for "Extremely Expensive".

      As an EE user I have to disagree. It actually stands for "Eencredibly Eencompetent."
      As I discovered when they contacted me to suggest I go from Pay-As-You-Go to Pay-Monthly, on a plan that was actually financially advantageous. Only to find out the next time I was abroad, a week later, that there was no roaming activated on Pay-Monthly. I spent a week attempting to get through to customer service with no success ("We estimate we'll be with you in 1m", for an hour and a half). When I finally managed to get through to them back in the UK, they gleefully told me that roaming could only be activated on pay-monthly if you'd been with them for over a year (W... T.... F.....).
      I calmly explained that it was *them* that had contacted me to switch plans, when I'd been using the roaming facility on my PAYG for a week out of every month in the past year, so could they kindly get their thumbs out of their arses and fix it or cancel my plan entirely. And suddenly it wasn't so much of a problem to instantly activate my roaming.
      Why am I still with them? Best coverage in the UK and abroad, and best prices for my (very non-average, admittedly) usage pattern. But holy shit, are they ever incompetent.

    5. Re:That's a lot of acronyms, isn't it? by jratcliffe · · Score: 1

      Actually, even if they did stand for something, they'd be initialisms, not acronyms. /pedantry

    6. Re:That's a lot of acronyms, isn't it? by Richard_at_work · · Score: 1

      Odd, since I rang up EE the day after getting my pay monthly contract (I switched from O2) and had them enable roaming without any issue - wasn't on hold for all that long either, a couple of minutes max.

      The only limit they had was that they wouldn't unlock the phone until I had been with them for three months, to reduce fraud (where someone takes out a phone in a stolen identity, has the phone unlocked, and then ships it to Africa before the first bill hits the victim).

    7. Re:That's a lot of acronyms, isn't it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      If BT do buy EE, will they be called BEE TEE?

    8. Re:That's a lot of acronyms, isn't it? by fyonn · · Score: 1

      or EECellnet?

  3. This is how the Nazis took over by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They bought up Poland and no one stopped them. We mustn't stay quiet, we must fight this.

    1. Re:This is how the Nazis took over by davester666 · · Score: 1

      Because we want Poland for ourselves...

      --
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    2. Re:This is how the Nazis took over by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Shalom.

  4. Great by cyber-vandal · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The worst and second worst ISPs in the UK are joining forces to create a perfect storm of uselessness.

    1. Re:Great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm very happy with this, as I like to avoid giving money to BT or Orange if possible. Obviously Orange have taken T-mobile down with them, but it's good enough. If BT were going to buy somebody, I'm glad it's that shower.

  5. Oh well by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Happy XX & YY 2U Also.

  6. Fuck BT by stealth_finger · · Score: 2

    Fuck their products, fuck their services, just fuck them.

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    1. Re:Fuck BT by amalcolm · · Score: 1

      That's wat I come to slashdot for: reasoned argument and informed criticism :)

      --
      Time for bed, said Zebedee - boing
    2. Re:Fuck BT by stealth_finger · · Score: 1

      I'm here all week, try the fish.

      --
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  7. Big EError by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    GCHQ must be rubbing its hands because with or without their spying, BT had no problem spying on its customers (Phorm, a cookie installed at ISP level) or automatically opting in its HomeHub customers in national Wifi network Fon. My other rant includes selling me upto 20 megabits ADSL but the maximum I ever got was 5.5 megabits (less than a third). BT is a piece of shit.

  8. Two fewer EE customers coming up by tehcyder · · Score: 2
    My wife and I would rather go back to sending messages by carrier pigeon than become BT customers ever again. Our EE phone contracts won't be renewed.

    Apart from British Gas (obviously), BT are the worst company in the UK.

    --
    To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    1. Re:Two fewer EE customers coming up by Chrisq · · Score: 1

      My wife and I would rather go back to sending messages by carrier pigeon than become BT customers ever again. Our EE phone contracts won't be renewed.

      Apart from British Gas (obviously), BT are the worst company in the UK.

      You must have overlooked G4S

    2. Re:Two fewer EE customers coming up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      corporate greed and incompetence? check.

      consumer frustration and outrage? check.

      idiots in government 'regulating' and approving market quashing consolidation? check.

      just another day at the zoo here in the u.s. glad to see some of our 'best' makes it back to the old country. cheers!

    3. Re:Two fewer EE customers coming up by AmiMoJo · · Score: 0

      I'm noticing a trend here.

      British Telecom - bastards
      British Airways - crap
      British Gas - rip-off
      British Petroleum - dirty

      Probably best to avoid companies with "British" in the name.

      --
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      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    4. Re:Two fewer EE customers coming up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And Crapita

    5. Re:Two fewer EE customers coming up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      BT, BA and British Gas were all former state-owned companies the government sold off in the 80s. The service 'improved' so much that everybody now hates them with a passion.

  9. BT != Bittorrent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    For those readers across the pond. BT doesn't mean Bittorrent. It means British Telecom. A large ISP/Telco company.

    1. Re:BT != Bittorrent by petermgreen · · Score: 1

      Note that while " large ISP/Telco company." is not wrong it's something of an understatement. BT is the former state monopoly telco in the UK.

      AIUI BT openreach (the part of BT that owns the physical lines) has an effective monopoly for about half of the UK households. For most of the rest they are competing against virgin media but virgin media don't sell wholesale. Theres a few small upstarts arround too but they tend to have negligable coverage areas.

      Fortunately we have reasonablly effective regulation which allows competition at the service provider level despite the monoploy at the physical line level.

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    2. Re:BT != Bittorrent by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      Theres a few small upstarts arround too but they tend to have negligable coverage areas.

      BT is required to allow third parties to install equipment in the exchanges ('local loop unbundling'), and while most of the companies that take advantage of this are small local affairs, TalkTalk has quite a lot of coverage on LLU exchanges. Since BT won't sell naked ADSL lines, they've priced themselves completely out of the market in areas with Virgin Media coverage.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  10. Urgh BT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So service will get worse and the prices will go up.

    At the consumer level at least, they're a dinosaur and the country would be better off without them.

    1. Re:Urgh BT by petermgreen · · Score: 1

      AIUI EE is currently owned by deutsche telekom and france telecom, so this is one former state monopoly telco buying a buisness off other fromer state monopoly telcos, not a takeover of an indpendent buisness.

      --
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  11. Groan... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    BT = Bloody Thieves.

  12. £12.5bn for two vowels?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I though the going rate was $250 a piece...

  13. Re:BT != Bluetooth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    either!

    Though there are a lot of similarities....

  14. Two fewer EE customers coming up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hail privatisation... helped everyone out so much. How else were we gonna get far worse service for loads more money?