We still need strong safeguards in the mobile phone arena as the market works fairly well. There is good competition, the prices are low and they have a strongish desire to keep customers (your opinion may vary on this but generally if you are looking to leave they put you through to a customer retentions team who try to persuade you to stay).
The fact that I am on a contract for unlimited fast data, text and calls with pretty decent free roaming and it costs the equivalent of £13 per month is great.
Something that brought cheaper prices with greater coverage through a merger would be amazing. you could look at the possibility of that with shared fixed costs. However there is a serious risk of reduced competition and that would inevitably lead to higher prices. There will be a sweet spot between the competition of companies and their ability to provide the cheapest prices for consumers and that is what the regulators must try to fathom out. Is it 3 or is it 4 major providers? You'll only ever know for sure in hindsight - therefore scrutiny in this area needs to be maintained.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
