More Info On The Vodafone And Three Merger

Thumbnail image for vodalogo.jpgVodafone and Three held a conference call today to offer answers to questions about the new joint venture. The biggest thing you should know is that for the most part, a lot of the finer details are still yet to be worked out.Here are some of the more note-worthy points from the call:

  • The new merged company will have about 6 million customers, with annual revenue of about $4 Billion and about 26% marketshare in Australia
  • Nothing will change for 3 customers. All contracts will remain. There will also be no change to the Crazy Johns brand.
  • They refused to confirm whether the 3 brand would be completely phased out (considering the press release mentioned that they could maintain and use the brand until the transition and thereafter). That includes rebranding the 3 retail stores. In the end, they said that they need to work out the details of how the new joint venture will present itself to market. I wouldn’t be holding my breath for 3 to stick around though…
  • The network arrangement between 3 and Telstra for 3 customers to roam on Next G later this year is still in place. I’m not sure how this will work – they were short on details – but apparently it will still go ahead.
  • There will be redundancies, probably most from 3, but nothing has been decided yet.
  • The whole thing isn’t set in stone. It still needs approval from shareholders (it’s been unanimously recommended by the boards of both companies), the ACCC and the Foreign Investment Review Board.

As you can tell, there’s still a lot to go down before this is all made official. There’s no need to jump ship from 3 just yet – I’m sure we’ll be discovering lots of new exciting tidbits of information in the coming weeks. Hopefully this whole arrangement will result in wins for the consumer, but only time will tell that.

[Vodafone and Three merging in Australia]