londonhong kong vodafone and ck hutchison unveiled the longawaited 15 billion pound 19 billion merger of their british mobile operations on wednesday saying the creation of a new market leader would help drive competition and investmentexpected since the two companies disclosed talks in october the deal faces prolonged scrutiny by the antitrust regulator into whether having a single operator with 27 million customers could lead to higher mobile pricesseeking to win over politicians unions and the competition authorities the two groups said they would invest 11 billion pounds to create one of europes most advanced standalone 5g networksvodafones new ceo margherita della valle said the deal was a game changer in its home market and that it was good news for customers the country and competitionthe uk will benefit from the creation of a sustainable strongly competitive third operator with a clear 11 billionpound network investment plan over 10 years driving growth employment and innovation she told reportersvodafone will own 51 and hutchison 49 of the combined group which will be led by current vodafone uk boss ahmed essam the finance chief of hutchisons three uk darren purkis will take the same role in the new groupthe combined operator will overtake bts ee and vm o2 jointly owned by telefonica and liberty global vodafone britains thirdbiggest mobile operator will have an option to buyout the hong kongbased conglomerate three years after completion if it agreesprolonged scrutinythe deal will face intense scrutiny from regulators who have previously opposed deals that reduce the number of networks in major markets from four to three hutchisons attempt to merge with telefonicas o2 in britain seven years ago was blockedunite one of britains biggest trade unions said it would lead to higher mobile phone bills and job cuts and questioned whether a company with close ties to china should have such a prominent place in uk telecoms infrastructurethe companies said the transaction would need approval under a uk national security and investment act which gives the government powers to intervene in deals that could pose a riskthey will present their plans to britains competition and markets authority cma in the coming weekswe believe that this case stands on very strong grounds vodafones essam told reporters adding that customers would be getting a much better network for the same price were very confident on our casehutchisons three uk boss robert finnegan pointed out that the planned investment was substantially higher than rivals and said while a rejection by the cma would not lead to hutchison exiting britain it would have to reduce investmentbut the deal will still face many hurdlesa cma spokesperson said that as vodafone and three are key players with millions of consumers and many businesses relying on their services it was only right that they review the impact this deal could have on competitionvodafone said customers of both companies would enjoy better network coverage within 12 months of the deal closing expected to be before the end of 2024 subject to regulatory and