Vodafone, CK Hutchison’s $19-billion merger to create UK’s largest telco

Vodafone and CK Hutchison finally unveiled the 15 billion pound ($19 billion) merger of their British mobile operations on Wednesday, saying the creation of a new market leader would drive competition and investment in the country.

The long-awaited deal, after the two companies disclosed talks in October, will now trigger prolonged scrutiny by the anti-trust regulator into whether an operator with 27 million customers could lead to higher mobile prices.

Seeking to win over politicians, unions, and the competition authorities, the two groups said they would invest £11 billion to create what they described as “one of Europe’s most advanced standalone 5G networks”.