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VodafoneThree, which reflects the now finalised c.£16bn merger between Vodafone and Three UK (here), has this morning set out a set of post-merger plans for their 4G / 5G mobile (mobile broadband) network coverage, performance and branding. Starting with a 20% average speed boost on 4G for Three and SMARTY customers, and a new broadband partnership with CommunityFibre.
At this point we already know, from prior announcements, that VodafoneThree plan to invest £11bn to upgrade the UK’s 5G mobile infrastructure and coverage over the next ten years. The combined business has also previously stated that it aspires to reach more than 99% of the UK population with their 5G Standalone (SA) network by 2034 and push fixed wireless access (mobile home broadband) to 82% of households by 2030, among other things.
The hard part of this process, which involves integrating teams (some potential for redundancies in this area), networks and offices, has now begun. As a result of that, VodafoneThree has this morning set out a refined set of post-merger plans and network targets.
The move highlights just how quickly the operator intends to bring everything together; while also respecting the binding commitments they made as part of the agreement. The announcement includes quite a lot of sporadic detail, so we’ve opted to shrink this down into a bullet point summary below. It’s worth a read, due to so many changes being introduced.
Max Taylor, CEO of VodafoneThree, added: “A new era of connectivity has begun. We will connect every nation, every community, in every corner of the UK. We will build the UK’s best 5G network with an unprecedented £11bn privately funded infrastructure project, laying the digital foundation for our country’s growth ambitions. Benefits for our 27 million mobile customers will start within months, with access to roam across both networks at no extra cost. From big cities to small towns, and everywhere in between, our mission is to build the UK’s best network”.
VodafoneThree’s Plan
➤ Over time, Vodafone and Three UK will integrate into one physical network, which will be called: The Nation’s Network.
➤ The new company will operate a multi-brand mobile strategy in their consumer business, with Vodafone, Three UK, VOXI, SMARTY and Talkmobile remaining (on the same single network).
➤ Vodafone will be the only brand for business customers, with one team able to tailor solutions to a customer’s needs.
➤ Over the next 12 months, VodafoneThree will bring Three’s mobile broadband (Fixed Wireless Access) products together with Vodafone’s Full Fibre (FTTP) into one home broadband portfolio, under the Vodafone brand. There will only be one converged brand for both businesses and consumers.
➤ Aims to reach 99.95% UK population coverage of their 5G Standalone (5G SA) network by 2034. The network will be built at speed, with the 5G SA build plan being front-loaded so that, by the end of the third year, it will hit 90% population coverage from a current baseline of 47%. Around 71% of the UK population (circa 50 million) will have access to their fastest 5G speeds by the end of year one.
➤ Within just two weeks, through the sharing of combined spectrum, 7 million Three UK and SMARTY customers will receive an improvement in 4G data speeds (mobile broadband) of up to 20% (average).
➤ Within a few months, 27 million Vodafone and Three UK mobile customers will start to benefit from unrivalled access to roam on each other’s networks at no extra cost. It will happen automatically, with no need to change a thing (phones will connect to the best coverage available). By the end of the year this will remove a total of 16,500 sq/km of not spots – equivalent to 10x the size of London – with the first sites already having been turned on.
➤ By this time next year (June 2026), VodafoneThree will launch beta trials on a ‘first-of-its-kind’, space-based satellite mobile network, thanks to Vodafone’s partnership with AST Space Mobile. This will complement the existing network build, eliminating coverage gaps in places that otherwise couldn’t be reached.
➤ Within two years, the company will open two new customer care centres in Belfast and Sheffield, bringing 400 sales and customer service roles back to the UK, alongside the existing call centres in Stoke and Glasgow. Crucially there are “no planned retail redundancies“.
➤ VodafoneThree will launch a new ‘Just Ask Once’ Promise on the Vodafone brand from July 2025. ‘Just Ask Once’ will aim to resolve any query, quickly and painlessly, with a dedicated advisor who proactively updates the customer, and if the issue isn’t resolved to the customers satisfaction, they will be able to simply part ways without penalty.
➤ VodafoneThree has today announced a new partnership with CommunityFibre in London, bringing faster fixed FTTP broadband speeds to even more homes. This builds on existing agreements with Openreach and CityFibre.
➤ Over the entire 8-year build period, VodafoneThree will create and sustain demand for, on average, 9,000 jobs, with peak investment years (years 2-6) seeing as many as 13,000 jobs created across the UK (74% outside London and the South East).
➤ By consolidating networks, VodafoneThree’s energy consumption will be around 31% lower than it would have been as two separate networks. In addition, VodafoneThree will reduce emissions from operations to net zero by 2027 and look to achieve the same across the full value chain by 2040.
➤ This August, VodafoneThree will be the first to exclusively range the first phone from HMD’s Better Phone Project in the UK, with a new innovative on-device AI application called HarmBlock. This software (built by SafeToNet) means that that harmful content can’t be seen, shared, or created. The phone also features real-time location tracking, contact safe-lists, parental controls for apps and online access.
Overall, this all sounds very promising, at least in terms of network coverage and service, although it won’t be enough to placate the concerns about future consumer pricing beyond the initially protected period of 3 years. The fears of future price hikes and the gradual removal of their cheapest plans from the UK market, either directly or via MVNO providers (e.g. iD Mobile, Smarty etc.), seem unlikely to go away.
In addition, some might find VodafoneThree’s decision to name their combined network infrastructure ‘The Nation’s Network‘ a little bit too presumptuous or possibly even worthy of some cringe, although such thoughts may subside if they’re able to deliver on their coverage and performance improvements.
Separately, VodafoneThree today announced that the south coast (Devon) town of Brixham has recently received a 30% uplift in network capacity. The hope is that this will help balance against some of the expected network load during the busy summer months, when visitor numbers tend to climb.