Virgin Media O2 and Daisy Group to form UK B2B joint venture

GlobalData Technology

Wed, May 14, 2025, 12:34 AM 3 min read

In a associated venture, Virgin Media O2 Business and Daisy Group person announced the instauration of a caller UK B2B company, with ownership divided 70% Virgin Media O2 and 30% Daisy Group.

The caller entity volition person £1.4bn ($1.9bn) successful pro forma revenues and the woody is expected to adjacent successful aboriginal H2 2025.

This marks a important adjacent measurement successful the consolidation of the UK endeavor telecoms market, which is oversupplied astatine each level from infrastructure to value-added reseller – this is nary atrocious happening for UK plc arsenic businesses of each sizes payment from contention to pull their custom. But consolidation is besides being driven by necessity for concern successful some fibre and mobile networks, and successful maturation services specified arsenic AI, cybersecurity, and unreality services – these are costly and margins successful accepted connectivity are low.

UK combinations are besides a microcosm of the ongoing statement astir consolidation crossed Europe – everyone realises it is necessary, but nary state wants to suffer power of its nationalist champion.

Let’s beryllium honest, it is not truly a azygous marketplace successful telecoms – it is aggregate nationalist markets with EU oversight. It is expected that astatine immoderate constituent consolidation volition hap and the dam volition burst – but this anticipation has been astir for years.

The information that the projected Virgin Media O2-Daisy Group associated task volition beryllium focused connected the endeavor marketplace is simply a bully commencement and volition physique connected the accepted strengths of some partners, covering the tiny concern marketplace successful peculiar (including the channel) and besides larger corporates and nationalist assemblage customers. It besides has the imaginable to exploit the fixed and mobile infrastructure that underpins Virgin Media O2’s services, and to instill the entrepreneurial tone of Daisy.

Of course, the operation volition not beryllium easy. Any associated task woody poses challenges and this 1 is nary different.

Aside from the technological challenges of combining, phasing retired and evolving existing networks, systems, and processes, determination is besides the situation of organisational alteration – synergy savings usually means headcount reductions. And past we travel to 2 much cardinal elements: for the moment, branding volition stay the same, which means a operation of bequest brands similar Virgin Media, O2, and Daisy – each of which person historically antithetic associated values. Currently, it looks messy. Next comes ‘customer ownership’ – this should beryllium easy manageable for the medium-sized, corporate, and nationalist assemblage segments.

However; determination are ever issues betwixt nonstop and indirect channels erstwhile it comes to smaller businesses, and it gets adjacent much analyzable erstwhile targeting SOHO (Small Office Home Office) customers who often straddle Business and Consumer divisions of work providers.