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Virgin Media is ditching telecoms group BT and switching its three million mobile phone customers to the network run by Vodafone.
Customers are being promised a host of new services and will not have to change Sim cards, Virgin Media said.
The cable group's current contract with BT, which owns the EE network, expires in 2021, although Virgin will launch 5G services with Vodafone before then.
The contract is reportedly worth about £200m to BT, whose shares fell 4.7%.
Virgin Media is owned by US telecoms giant Liberty Global, which is also rumoured to be in talks with Sky to invest in a full-fibre network.
Wednesday's Vodafone deal, along with any tie-up between Liberty and Sky, raises the competitive pressure on BT, which is investing heavily in upgrading its own network.
I shall look forward to my "host of new services" .....
No doubt I will be disappointed to discover I don't need them and there's charge for them, anyway .....
Virgin Mobile has said that it will have control over the products and services it offers, so existing customers will not need to change their Sim cards as part of this agreement.
Most customers will not experience any changes until the switchover date in late 2021, which is yet to be confirmed.