The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has asked for comment prior to their investigation to the Vodafone-Three merger which was announced earlier this year.

The CMA is inviting interested third parties to provide comment on the potential market impact the merger could bring to UK consumers in advance of launching a formal investigation once it has received the information it needs from the two merging companies.

Vodafone, which is owned by Vodafone Group Plc, and Three UK, which is owned by CK Hutchison Holdings Limited, announced their merger in June this year, as two major telecommunication companies yet to strike a partnership.

The other major UK telecoms companies, EE and O2, are already in major partnerships. EE has been partnered with BT, and Virgin Media operates with O2. Both of these companies have outperformed Vodafone and Three UK according to broadband performance results released by GWS.

Considering there are currently five major telecoms providers out there, and two of them consist of major partnerships, Vodafone and Three UK are right to feel confident that their merger will be accepted.

However, Three UK was previously blocked by the EU to merge with O2 prior to Brexit.

“Millions of consumers and businesses in the UK rely on Vodafone’s and Three’s mobile networks to stay connected,” Sarah Cardell said, chief executive of the CMA.

“We will be carefully considering how this deal may affect competition in the UK, which could affect the options and prices available to customers. We will also assess how it may affect incentives to invest in the quality of UK mobile networks.

“This is an opportunity for those with an interest in this merger to let us know their views before we launch a full investigation.”

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The CMA by law must assess the potential impact of a merger on competition, but it must also not consider other potential effects that it might have on other issues, such as employment or access to personal data.

Commenting on the earlier announcement of the merger, Dr. Paul Carter, CEO of mobile benchmarking and intelligence provider GWS, said: “On paper this merger makes sense for two companies looking to close the gap on competitors who have themselves benefited from combining their connectivity offerings.”

Yet it remains to be seen if the CMA will agree, or if other parties will have something different to say.