Virgin Media Ireland’s parent is reportedly in talks to buy Three Ireland for as much as €1.5 billion, with industry sources and lawyers saying it will help consolidate a challenged telecoms market without triggering big competition issues.
Irish-American telecoms mogul John Malone’s Liberty Global, which owns Virgin Media, is in advanced talks with Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison to buy the latter’s Three Ireland unit, the Finance Times reported on Tuesday.
Spokesmen for Liberty Global and Three Ireland declined to comment when contacted by The Irish Times.
Three Ireland has a 49.4 per cent share of the mobile market, including mobile broadband, making it the largest player in the State, according to the latest data from industry regulator ComReg. It has no fixed broadband business.
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Virgin Media is the third-largest fixed broadband provider in the Republic, with a 20.4 per cent market share. It also has a very small mobile operation, with a 1.3 per cent slice of the market, that piggybacks off Three’s network.
“There are probably too many players for a market the size of Ireland, but very few combinations don’t have obvious clearance issues due to what it would do to market share in either broadband or mobile,” said an industry source. “But this one works, as Three has no fixed [broadband] and Virgin Media has a tiny mobile business.”
Ronan Dunne, head of competition, regulated markets and EU law with corporate solicitors Philip Lee, also said he expects any deal would be cleared by regulators.
“This transaction would offer synergies without having an anticompetitive element, given the focus of both companies,” said Mr Dunne. “It could arguably improve the offering for consumers from a competitive standpoint through potential bundling of products, allowing it to compete more with the likes of Vodafone and Eir.”
Virgin Media and Three Ireland each reported losses in 2024, according to their most recent annual financial statements, as the wider sector struggles with low revenue growth and ongoing big costs on upgrading both fixed and mobile networks.
There was speculation five years ago that Liberty Global was considering putting Virgin Media Ireland, including its TV broadcasting business, on the market.
The reported talks come a dozen years after CK Hutchison backed Three Ireland’s purchase of the Irish arm of O2 for €850 million from Spain’s Telefonica.
Indeed, Three agreed to help Virgin Media – then known as UPC – get into the mobile market in 2014 through a network-usage deal, in order to get the tie-up through competition officials in the European Commission.
In recent times, however, CK Hutchison has been steadily lowering its European telecommunications exposure, as challenging market dynamics have depressed pricing and squeezed returns.
The conglomerate’s Three UK unit merged with Vodafone UK last year in a £16.5 billion (€18.9 billion) deal, with the Vodafone Group widely expected to increase its 51 per cent stake to full control in time. It has also been looking for some time at selling telecoms operations in Sweden and Denmark.
The portfolio tweaking comes as CK Hutchison also continues to weigh an initial public offering of its global telecoms business.
Mr Malone (84) built Liberty Global through decades of deal-making in the cable and media sectors.
The billionaire also has significant Irish property interests. He as a big investor in the MHL Hotel Collection, whose portfolio spans the College Green and InterContinental hotels in Dublin to Powerscourt resort in Co Wicklow. He also has significant land holdings like Humewood Castle in Co Wicklow and Castlemartin in Co Kildare.
