Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions she has had with the Competition and Markets Authority on the potential impact of the merger of Vodafone and Three on the rollout of 5G.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is an independent regulator and Government has no role in merger and remedies decisions on a competition basis. The Secretary of State has not discussed the potential impacts of the merger of Vodafone and Three on the rollout of 5G with them.

However, the Secretary of State welcomes Vodafone UK and Three UK’s binding £11 billion investment commitment to upgrade the UK’s mobile networks to higher quality standalone 5G.