Telefonica seeks to merge Britain’s O2 and Virgin Media

MADRID/LONDON: Spain’s Telefonica SA is in talks with billionaire John Malone’s Liberty Global Plc to explore a merger of its British mobile operator O2 with Liberty’s Virgin Media cable network company, two sources familiar with the matter said.

Telefonica has been weighing options for the mobile business since 2016 when a previous 10.3 billion pound deal takeover of O2 by Three UK, controlled by CK Hutchison Holdings, was blocked by European antitrust regulators, banking sources said.

A combination of O2 and Virgin Media would reshape Britain’s telecoms industry, leaving Hutchison and Vodafone stranded without their own fixed-line consumer networks.