Li Ka-shing Flagship CK Hutchison Defends O2 Deal
February 03 2016 - 11:20PM
Dow Jones News
HONG KONG—CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd., the flagship company of
Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, on Thursday defended its proposed $15
billion deal to buy cellphone operator O2 after the U.K.'s
telecommunications regulator warned against the deal.
In a statement, CK Hutchison Managing Director Canning Fok said
the combination of O2 and Three, CK Hutchison's existing British
carrier, wouldn't result in a price increase for consumers for five
years. He added that the combined company would also invest £ 5
billion ($7.3 billion) in the business over the same period.
Mr. Fok said his company will also allow competitors to buy
fractional ownership stakes in its U.K. mobile network as opposed
to buying wholesale network capacity. Such a move would cut out the
middleman and allow competitors on CK Hutchison's mobile network to
offer lower prices to consumers.
Last week, the chief executive of U.K. telecommunications
regulator Ofcom warned that the proposed merger could raise prices
for consumers and hurt competition among U.K. mobile carriers.
Write to Wayne Ma at wayne.ma@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 03, 2016 23:05 ET (04:05 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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