Hong Kong’s Hutchison Whampoa has just taken a mighty bite into the UK mobile market share by buying O2 from Spain’s Telefonica.<br /><br /> For 13.9 billion euros Hutchison gets the UK’s number 2 operator to add to its existing 3Mobile network, the UK’s number three.<br /><br /> If the deal, which has been under exclusive negotiation since January, gets past the regulatory authorities it will create a giant of 30 million subscribers, the undisputed leader in Britain, where only three operators would remain in the market. <br /><br /> However Hutchison says it will sell 30% of the enlarged business to as-yet-unspecified parties. <br /><br /> The two companies say they hope the deal will be concluded by June 30 2016.
