It’s been a busy week for mobility! Let’s see what has been dominating the headlines this week.
Culture secretary Sajid Javid was under fire this week for rejected plans for taller phone masts to better serve rural areas. Eliminating poor mobile coverage is part of the Governments plan for long term economics, but not at the expenses of disrupting those beautiful country views. Britain’s mobile operators have called for planning restrictions to be relaxed.
In other news, BT took its first step back into the mobile waters while awaiting news on whether it will be the new owner of the country’s biggest mobile operator, EE. Until that is agreed, BT plan to launch a SIM-only deal, with particularly attractive deals for existing broadband customers.
Here’s what else happened in the mobility world this week:
- A Three-O2 merger could be imminent as Hutchinson Whampoa reportedly finalise a deal to buy O2 from Telefonica. According to the FT, there have been no major obstacles during the two months of due diligence taken by Hutchinson since the £10.25bn price was agreed with Telefonica. Could this be the arrival of O3?
- The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge was only unveiled at MWC earlier this month, but already talks of the Samsung S6 Active have been begun and is rumoured to be going back to basics, bringing back the microSD slot and a removable battery.
- Live video streaming app Meerkat, has been dominating the tech community news as the hot new thing, but keen to not be pushed out, Twitter has now jumped in and launched its own rival – Periscope. Both apps provide very simple ways of streaming live from your phone in just a few taps. Now everyone can be a real-time roving reporter.
That’s your lot – but don’t forget to let me know what you think of this week’s mobility roundup. Do you think the Three – O2 merger is a recipe for success? Have you tried Meerkat or Periscope yet? Let me know by leaving a comment here or tweeting @GrahamFranklin or @CiscoUKI.
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