Three UK to acquire UK Broadband offering £250 million

Mobile operator Three UK has announced a deal to acquire UK Broadband, which operates Relish Wireless, the fixed wireless broadband ISP having a 4G-based network running in Central London, Reading and Swindon. Three UK has offered to pay £250 million for acquiring UK Broadband which presently provides to 15,000 customers.

This is Three UK's first step towards establishing a fixed broadband service, but it also can help improve capacity for its mobile network and coverage. The operator said the deal will be subject to a number of conditions that has to be fulfilled, to complete the acquisition process, which Three hopes to complete by summer (mid-2017). Three UK will pay £250 million on completion and make available a deferred £50 million as credit towards the MVNO contract on Three UK's platform. Dave Dyson, Chief Executive of Three UK, said this deal gives them an opportunity to expand and provide high quality and value of connectivity to consumers in UK.

UK Broadband has an ambition to launch a national network, but not been able to do so, even though they have the licences. They own spectrum that includes slots in the 3.9GHz and 28GHz bandwidths and also the 40GHz band, which can be potentially a future growth area that undoubtedly Three UK would have considered. Three UK has been voicing and campaigning a limit on how much spectrum slot a company can own, reflecting on the amount owned by rivals such as EE and Vodafone.