Margaret to the deal has been approved. The merger has been approved. Man. We will take that as validation of your strategy. What does it mean for the outlook for Vodaphone in the years ahead.
Let me first say Tom that today's announcement is great news for the UK because the CMA has given us screen light to create this new force in UK telecoms, a force that will increase competition and investment and ultimately give the UK the infrastructure that it truly deserves. For Vodafone specifically, it's the final move for us in reshaping Europe for growth. When I became CEO last year, I said that we were addressing three markets Italy, Spain and
the UK. And we are now completing in this era of transition our strategy and we will look forward to next year in which you will see the new reshape Vodafon in Europe, geared for an acceleration of our growth and.
You will be the biggest company, the biggest telecoms company in the UK by revenues. Give us a steer if you can, Margarita a ballpark figure in terms of what you think this does to the uplift for revenues for roaud Defone for twenty twenty five twenty twenty six.
I would say Tom, this is not about revenues. The rationale of the merger is to unlock investment, infrastructure investment. With the combination between Vodafon Entry, we unlock scale in our networks, which is what will allow us to build the biggest, the best network in the UK, reaching ninety nine percent of the UK population. That's what we do for a living. We want to invest. We want to invest to give a better service to our customers and we want to invest to drive growth in our markets,
which is where revenues come from. But the most important point for the financial set top of Vodafone is that all the markets in which Vodafone will operate next year, including the UK, will be growth markets where our own scale will allow us to drive growth with good returns.
And you focused on that investment piece, eleven billion pounds of investment. When does that investment start, Margarita, and how will you be financing it?
It starts as soon as we complete We still have a few weeks to go as we go apply the final legal touches with the CMA and our partners, we will complete in alf one twenty twenty five, and as soon as we complete, we will start investing, which is why although typically big infrastructure projects take time, our customers will already see the benefit into next year of a bigger,
better broader network. In terms of funding, you know that the other activity we have done this year as part of the reshaping of Vodafone in Europe is to reshape our balancee. So we have all the funding we need to execute on our plan.
Okay, so you fund it from the balance sheet. You have the funding that you need. The deal closes in the first half of next year, that's the expectation. What is the timeframe for the integration between the two businesses and what kind of cuts maybe you might be looking at in terms of efficiencies between the two businesses.
Sure, it's clearly early days to talk about this because the two companies won't be allowed to operate together and therefore design the full detailed integration plan until we complete in the first half of twenty twenty five. But specifically on the points of jobs, let me be very clear. This merger, as we've just discussed, is about investment, is
not about cost cutting. What that means is that of course, with an eleven billion investment plan, thousands of jobs will be created, and more broadly, outside of the telecom ecosystem, you will have businesses across the UK that will get the benefits of a better network for their own growth. Of course, as always as we combine two companies, there will be areas of overlap, but the net result of the merger is going to be an increasing employment across the UK.
Okay, but specifically for Vodaphone. As you look for those synergies, but also that investment, what does that do for headcount in the years ahead.
This is something we will be working on with our partners as soon as we are allowed to complete. In the grand scheme of think think about it as small as the impact of the merger. Of course, to give you an example, there will be duplication in the heads offices, but they have nothing in comparis reason to the investment plan that we have in mind.
What will it mean? Critics of course have suggested it's going to mean higher prices for customers. Mobile prices will be capped for three years as a result of this deal with the CMA and this merger, but post that three year period, the prices go up for consumers.
This is a really important point you are raising because the CMA is really establishing here a very important point. They have established the link that we all know exists between investment and competition. What that means is that more investment will drive more competition on investment itself across all players in the UK, which will be good for customers. But also with a bigger a better network, we will have more capacity that will mean more competition on the
retail front. Let me remind you that in the UK market we are in one of the most competitive retail market across Europe. We have tens of brands competing for customers. That is not going to change. What is going to change is now these retail brands will have a much better infrastructure to support them.
Margritter, you've pointed to the key markets outside of the UK, Italy and Spain. Do you expect this deal to be a catalyst for consolidation, further consolidation in the European market? And what do you say to governments in Europe, some of them who are reluctant and are cautious about consolidation, this.
Deal could represent a good precedent for the rest of Europe. I think all governments are now aware of the fact that Europe is falling behind in terms of its technology infrastructure, and that for investment in infrastructure, exactly as we were explaining this morning, you need scale. Europe is also rethinking
about its position at this point. It's a critical year with a new commission, and you may have seen there have been reports like the Drug Report that have called out the need for Europe to accelerate investment in infrastructure. That's why the link that the CMA is doing today between investment and competition and why investment is good for
customers and for competitors is so important. If you go back eighteen months when we launched this project, I state that it would be great for customers, great for competition and great for the country. It's fantastic that we are now in the position to make this reality for the UK. I think other markets could take inspiration for this voter.
If I will have the majority stake fifty one percent. C. K. Hutchinson, the owner of three, will have forty nine percent, We'll see how long that last and whether you buy more of that state maybe you can give a nod to that. How do you do address that the national security concerns. This is a Hong Kong based company. They have ties to paging that the Hong Kong National Security Law that compels C. K. Hutchinson at some point to pass on
data from this entity to Hong Kong, Too Bay. How do you mitigate that?
First of all, let me say as you mentioned that Vodafon will be in the driving seat of the new company. Second, our partners, which as you say, are based in Hong Kong, have been operating telecom infrastructure in the UK for over twenty years and are involved in a range of sectors in this country. As you would expect, we have absolutely made ourselves comfortable that our partners have been respecting all
applicable rules and regulations. But besides what we can say, all authorities and regulators in the UK have gone through a very thorough analysis and have confirmed now months ago, their approval to this initiative.