WHEN plans to merge Wind and 3 Italia, the third- and fourth-largest mobile operators in Italy, were announced on August 6th their rivals breathed a sigh of relief. Italian operators’ revenues from mobile services have fallen by 40% since 2011, according to GSMA, a global trade association. That has made them skimp on investment. Though half of Italians have a smartphone, fewer than one in ten has access to speedy “4G” services. A weak domestic economy had something to do with this, but so did the industry structure, some argue: too many operators wooing price-sensitive customers the only way they could.
If approved by regulators, the Italian job will be the latest in a series of deals that are consolidating Europe’s mobile market. One by one, countries are switching from having four principal operators—ones that own their cell towers and radio spectrum—to just three (see map). In 2012 European Union regulators let the Austrian subsidiary of 3 Italia’s parent, Hutchison Whampoa, buy the Austrian operations of Orange of France. Telefónica of Spain bought the German mobile business of KPN of the Netherlands, to combine it with its own, and Hutchison bought...
from The Economist: Business http://ift.tt/1PBErOE
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