Penny Mobiles – Mobile phone news, reviews & information

Currently, the largest mobile network operator in the UK is the Vodafone –and judging by the company’s powerful 3G network which has been able to sustain many iPhone users and even attract iPhone users from other networks to switch (namely from O2), they have the established themselves on the forefront of the mobile telecommunications in Europe. While they are large, they do not control the industry. One possible merger has the potential to do so.

A few months back, talks between Orange UK and T-Mobile UK have come to an agreement that the two major network operators would merge. The resulting merger would create a network larger than Vodafone; the largest network in UK and possibly second only to China Mobile in the whole world.

Of course, the creation of such a powerful merger is not always welcomed by the industry. Competitors fearing major losses due to the presence of such a powerful player are obviously against the merger. The Office of Fair Trading has filed for a full investigation of the merger by British authorities.

Despite the merger already having been scrutinized in Brussels by regulators, the OFT, and Ofcom, the tentative February merger of the two companies has been put into another delay.

Meanwhile the merger also places 3 mobile in a very tight spot. Kevin Russell has stated that since 3 mobile relies on T-Mobile’s network, if the merger does not have provisions for 3, then their company would not be able to properly compete in the telecommunications industry.

Once merger pushes through, it would give T-Mobile and Orange the largest mobile phone spectrum in the region –which is one of the main reasons why the merger is being investigated; the upcoming merger would be able to control the telecommunications industry in the UK.

For more details and information on the merger and its possible ramifications on the telecommunications industry, go straight to the Guardian UK.

T-Mobile has filed a report to the Information Commissioner’s Office that data on thousands of customers has been sold without the company’s knowledge to unknown third parties. The general consensus is that T-Mobile should be held responsible for the safekeeping of their client information (which is part of their responsibility in their contract with their client).

Though technically, this is not a case of the internal system being weak, it is their employees who are the root of this matter. T-Mobile has expressed that it is currently working on finding out the specific individuals responsible for the data theft.

However, investigating this matter could be very difficult as it appears that this is just the surface of a much deeper problem. The selling and purchasing of information is done on so many levels and there is no easy way to filter through all the persons involved. Often, the data is illegally sold, illegally purchased, and then legally sold to other parties. The constant passing of money on different levels (to paraphrase T-Mobile) could also point to the fact that there is already a working system for these transactions.

While it is commonly spoken of, breach of secure data has never reached a scale this large. At first, T-Mobile had not announced that their company was at the crux of the investigation, but as time wore on, they finally announced that it was their company that currently had investigations (this followed the initial statements from O2, Vodafone, Orange, Virgin and 3 that their companies were not part of the investigation.

For now, government investigators are dismayed at the current penalties for guilty parties and are saying that tougher penalties would serve as a greater deterrent for these illegal activities. These opinions, which are also voiced by Justice Minister Michael Wills currently lack the support and backing of the government.