Virgin Media owner reported to be in talks to buy Three Ireland

Three Ireland dominates the Irish telecommunications market with an almost 50% market share 

Both Three Ireland, owned by CK Hutchison, and Liberty Global, which owns Virgin Media, declined to comment on reports of the potential deal when contacted by the Irish Examiner. Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The parent company of Virgin Media is in advanced talks to buy Three Ireland, the Financial Times has reported. 

The deal, which could be valued at as much as €1.5bn, would mark a significant shift in the Irish mobile market, which has been dominated by Three for several years.

Both Three Ireland, owned by CK Hutchison, and Liberty Global, which owns Virgin Media, declined to comment on reports of the potential deal when contacted by the Irish Examiner. 

Liberty Global is owned by US billionaire businessman John Malone, who owns two large estates in Ireland, located in Wicklow and Kildare.

The move would mark Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison's latest effort to scale back its European telecommunications market. In addition to selling its terminal at Barcelona Port, the group has also considered a potential spin-off with a view to making the company public through an IPO. 

CK Hutchison operates the Three group in Sweden, Denmark, Austria and Ireland. As of June 2025, the group had approximately 60.5m registered mobile customers and 56.6m active mobile customers.

According to CK Hutchison, Three Ireland serviced a registered customer base of approximately 5.2m as of June 30, 2025.

However, the conglomerate has been gradually selling its telecom operations in Europe due to tough market conditions that have dampened prices and resulted in lower returns. Last year, the group closed a £16.5bn deal to merge Three UK with Vodafone UK.

According to the Financial Times, CK Hutchison has also explored the sales of its operations in Sweden and Denmark.

Irish mobile market 

Most recent data from Ireland's communications regulator ComReg, shows that Three Ireland dominates the Irish mobile market, with a market share of just under 50%.

This was followed by Vodafone at 27%, Eir at 14.5%, Tesco Mobile at 4.6%, Lyca Mobile at 1.7%, Virgin Mobile at 1.3%, An Post Mobile at 0.6%, and Sky Mobile at 0.5%.

Speaking on the potential deal, Daragh Cassidy on Bonkers.ie said: "

"There’s been a lot of consolidation in the telecommunications sector in Europe in recent years so it’s not surprising to see another potential merger.

"Virgin Mobile doesn’t have its own network. It’s what’s called a virtual mobile network operator, meaning it piggybacks off another operator's network to provide services to customers. 

"And the network it uses in Ireland is Three’s network, so there is already a relationship there between the two companies."

Mr Cassidy said that the deal would bring both positives and negatives from a competition and consumer point of view.

"While the deal would see the number of mobile operators here reduced by one, the market has become increasingly crowded in recent years with the entry of several sim-only providers like GoMo, An Post Mobile, Sky Mobile, Clear Mobile and 48.

"I don’t think this is necessarily anything to worry about as there will still be plenty of choice and more importantly, still three main providers with their own networks."