Matthew Howett, Founder and Chief Executive of Assembly Research said the CMA’s decision “sets the wheels in motion for a transformation of the UK’s mobile market, and ultimately the experience for consumers”. He added: “We expect positive implications overall, not only for investment in, and the quality of, networks (including standalone 5G), but also for the wholesale customers and consumers and businesses that rely on them.”
BT has resumed the transition after forming a new telecare action board alongside local authorities and healthcare providers. However, there is still uncertainty over how many vulnerable customers will be affected by the switchover.
Matthew Howett, founder and chief executive of Assembly Research, said: “Fibre does present resilience challenges itself, particularly in the context of power outages and device compatibility.”
But he added: “The more reliable, resilient and future-proof alternative of fibre and IP communications will ultimately mean fewer faults and outages over the longer term.”
CK Hutchison’s merger of Three Italia with Wind Telecomunicazioni was approved only after the companies agreed to divest assets. More recently, regulators told Orange and MasMovil they had to grant spectrum and roaming access to rival Digi as part of their Spanish merger.
Howett says these remedies have “only compounded the problem” by allowing new entrants into the market just as the existing players are trying to consolidate.
“Where four to three has been allowed to happen, the remedies that you put in place have often just recreated the problem you’re trying to solve,” he says.
Matthew Howett, founder and chief executive of Assembly Research, argues that one of the key purposes of alt-nets has been to push Openreach to build its own network more quickly.
“That dynamic has played out already, it’s happened… so I think once they’ve lit that firework the vast majority of Project Gigabit will happen,” he says.
James Robinson, an industry expert at Assembly, said: “While the parties might view consolidation as a way to improve returns and unlock shareholder value, we expect the CMA would be eager to protect against the risk of consumer price rises - particularly in light of the current cost of living crisis.”
But telecoms are likely to push for further change. “They want more freedom to have a more commercial relationship with content providers,” says Matthew Howett, founder of consultancy Assembly Research.
That could, he says, see “operators striking deals with games makers to prioritise a particular update or traffic”.
And streaming companies argue they already invest heavily in technology that stops their traffic overwhelming mobile and broadband networks. “Netflix invests millions in content delivery networks to get its traffic to you,” says Howett.
Matt Howett, founder of Assembly Research, says: “To me it looks like they can see the potential upside from the enhanced fibre roll-out that has yet to be fully reflected in the current share price.
“I'd say the lack of a seat on the board is a fairly good indicator for now that Drahi isn't looking to embark on a change of direction.”
Analysts say Facebook’s actions in Australia are designed to send regulators worldwide a clear message: don’t touch the business model.
“It’s a conflict that is playing out in different ways, across multiple countries and I think what Facebook is doing is flexing its muscles, not only in Australia but also showing the rest of the world that it is prepared to take extreme measures if it's business model is threatened,” says Luca Schiavoni, Senior Analyst at Assembly Research.
“The message is: regulate us on things like privacy but please do not disrupt key elements of our business model”.
"The slowing down of the full rollout of gigabit capable broadband will impact productivity and cost tens of thousands of jobs,” said Matthew Howett, the founder of Assembly Research.
“If the infrastructure is not there to make the UK an attractive place set up shop then we miss out. That's really what we don't get back. That's gone for good.”
