Virgin Media is switching from BT’s infrastructure, transferring their 3 million mobile customers over to Vodafone’s network. The contract will begin in late 2021 and run for five years, although Virgin Media have promised to offer 5G services through Vodafone sooner than this.

Virgin Media currently uses EE, the mobile network that BT now owns, and when their contract ends in 2021, Vodafone will be replacing BT. Vodafone has pitched at a lower price for the contract with Virgin Media – resulting in a loss of a two million pound contract for BT.

The loss of this contract with Virgin Media will put a strain on BT’s market share. BT’s shares dropped by 4.7%, whilst Vodafone’s increased by 1%. BT is also having to spend billions of pounds to upgrade its network to full-fibre and has the threat of Sky also joining forces with Liberty Global, Virgin Media’s owner.

Virgin Media merged its cable and mobile networks with Vodafone in 2016 in the Netherlands. This year, Vodafone completed an €18.4bn takeover of Liberty Global’s German and eastern European cable networks. Virgin Media joining forces with Vodafone in the UK make a powerful partnership which could rival BT. Lutz Schüler, Virgin Media’s chief executive, said the deal “will bring a host of fantastic benefits and experiences to our customers, including 5G services in the near future”.