[Pierre]

Originally Posted by Horizon

On the altnets, I reckon Vodafone will gobble them up. But then you'll say, didn't I say that all of those on that list will have a mobile co, which clearly Sky don't have and indeed I did.

Sky isn’t an Altnet. You said that there would be 3no. Companies left. So that would be BT, VM & VF then?

*** Edit: acknowledge you answer that below.***

Vodafone is going to buy CF and all the other altnets? Vodafone that currently doesn’t have any access infrastructure whatsoever is going to buy and integrate dozens of altnets?

I don’t think so.

I don't believe VM in its current form is long for this world

what form do you think it will be?

So, who will the list be, hard to tell. We need to know what is going to happen with BT first. Whether the Germans make their move or Patrick Draghi. But I would say, as shown by the AT&T Warner demerger, do not assume that the current combinations of media and telecoms will last.

So, in terms of networks, (not consumer services) I reckon something like this:

BT/EE networks. (Deutsche Telekom/Patrick Draghi likely buyers)
VM cable network (Comcast) and O2
Vodafone with altnets[COLOR="Silver"]

By VM (Comcast) are suggesting that Comcast is going to buy Liberty Global?

And by the way, I think three separate networks is ridiculous anyway and something I lobbied against many years, not that anyone paid any notice.

On the contrary, 3 networks …works. But no more than that and certainly not the current situation where you have several altnets overbuilding each other.

And buying altnets is not that simple, precisely because they’re over building each other. You could, for example, purchase Grain Connect and G.Network but then let’s say Grain and G.N have overbuilt each other by 50%, that 50% of dead network you don’t need!

Altnet consolidation is a very different beast to the CATV of the 90’s, the CATV companies neve overbuilt each other.

For the last three months, every time I walk outside my home, someone is digging up the roads and/or up telegraph poles installing fibre equipment. Different companies... What a waste of bloody money.

100% agree.

There should've just been one network, run by a network operator (call it Netcom..) and lease out the capacity to various companies to offer consumer services. But hey, that boat has sailed long ago.

You could have done that, or the Gov could have sold franchises (a bit more difficult than in the 90’s), or there could have been a law that no more that 3 operators in one footprint.