Personally I would have majored on the competitive disadvantages, rather than just making that an afterthought tucked on at the end. It is rumoured that prices rose after Three took over another mobile network in Austria.
I know the media has predicted that prices will rise in the UK as a result of consolidation but I think it's best to wait and see.
What interests me is why Three never put in an offer for T-Mobile when Deutsch Telecom wanted to offload them?
It seemed to make obvious sense, seeing they already shared 3G and HSDPA networks in the UK.
I'm sure these is a good reason. O2 isn't such a bad buy for them, with great 2G coverage, great customer satisfaction and a customer base with low smartphone penetration. That could translate to a lot of sales of new phones with associated services.
That would have saved us from the EE monstrosity.
I agree that EE is something of a monstrosity. Having had (and still do) several contracts with them I've been through a lot of hassle trying to get problems resolved when they frequently occurred. However, I have to say that they do have the best network in the country at the moment.