The pan-European MVNO Mundio is seeking a court injunction to stop the consolidation of Everything Everywhere's (EE) UK mobile network.
Mundio, which uses the T-Mobile UK network under the Vectone brand, claims that the consolidation of the Orange UK and T-Mobile UK masts and base stations could cause a deterioration in the service provided to its Vectone customers.
An interim injunction hearing, scheduled to take place within weeks, will decide whether EE can be temporarily stopped from decommissioning sites as part of its network consolidation. Mundio is arguing the consolidation should be halted until a trial next March, which aims to determine who is liable for any service disruption. Mundio has also requested that EE be held to "specific performance" guarantees the court could impose, according to Mobile News.
Vectone customers are meant to be able to use the Orange UK network, but Mundio says that this automatic handover from the T-Mobile UK service is not working correctly.
Any delay to EE's network consolidation could be damaging given that the company is meant to deliver a total of £3.5 billion in synergy savings across its operations by 2014.
An EE spokesperson told Cellular-News: "EE launched an innovative network share initiative, which allows Orange UK and T-Mobile UK customers, and our MVNO customers to access and roam across 2G and 3G. ... However, we cannot comment on the Mundio case as it is now a legal matter."
For more:
- see this Mobile News article
- see this Cellular-News article
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