Vodafone to buy CK Hutchison out of VodafoneThree venture for £4.3bn

Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, said: “Vodafone is taking full control of VodafoneThree, in yet another consolidation in the UK’s telecoms market.

“While it will cost £4.3 billion to buy CK Hutchison out of its share of the venture, it has been cautiously welcomed by investors, who appear to appreciate that it will enable Vodafone to have a tighter grip on strategy, cut costs, and potentially lay the groundwork for swifter execution of its plans.

“Given that joint ventures can slow decision-making, this should enable Vodafone to up the pace of its 5G infrastructure roll-out, improve network quality so it can compete on performance and reliability.

“It may also help with cross-selling its broadband offering, with bundled digital services seen as a cash cow given they generate recurring revenue, often at higher margins.”