CK Hutchison Holdings Limited which was possessed by YRIC Honorary President Li ka-shing, wanted to merge its subsidiary company Three with Spanish telecommunications company Telefonica in English business, while it has been refuted by EU regulators. And then on May 12, 2016, CK Hutchison Holdings Limited responded it. 

Li ka-shing, Honorary President of YRIC

According to CK Hutchison Holdings Limited, they are sure about that merging will bring significant interest for UK. Besides bringing 10 billion pounds private enterprise investment for British digital infrastructure, UK coverage will be improved, and the network capacity, speed, and price competition can be strengthened. Also, the competitive issues of the unbalance possession between the UK mobile network operators can be able to solved.  

Since YRIC Honorary President Li ka-shing’s purchase to O2 was refuted, Italy may be another battleground for promoting mobile operators merging. In last August, after announced merging O2 UK with Three UK, Hutchison Whampoa Limited announced a 21.8 billion Euros deal with VimpelCom to merge their telecoms business in Italy. The merged Three Italy will be the largest telecommunications operator in Italy, and get the dominant position in Italian  telecommunications.