Vodafone pager unit goes quiet after watchdog threat

Vodafone today scrapped the sale of its pager business to Capita after the competition watchdog threatened to block the deal over monopoly concerns.

The FTSE 100 giant agreed to sell the tiny unit, which has 1000 customers, to Capita’s PageOne division in February, leaving Capita as the UK’s sole beeper provider.

It will instead close the division after the Competition and Markets Authority today threatened to open a full-blown investigation.

A spokesman said: “Due to the expense involved with a prolonged investigation, Vodafone will not pursue the transaction and has made the decision to close down this business, which is based on ageing technology no longer supported by network vendors.

The company also rebuked the CMA, calling the decision “surprising”, given that no other European country has more than one pager provider.

The CMA had given Capita until 17 May to come up with solutions to allay concerns prices would be jacked up for customers. Capita said it was “disappointed”.

Despite being overtaken by smartphones, pagers are still used by emergency services and hospitals due to their reliability.