Karen Egan, analyst at Enders, said the merger would be likely to be referred for a so-called Phase 2 inquiry. “Clearly there will be a degree of overlap as they both offer telecoms services across an array of customer types, but the bulk of their customer bases are helpfully quite different, as the Vodafone brand has been more successful at the high end of the consumer market, while Three is much more of a value proposition,” she said.

“We hear from ad agencies that clients are getting fed up with the online drama and if a site does not deliver sufficient measurable results to make it important enough not to boycott then they’ll just leave it behind,” says Joseph Teasdale, head of tech at Enders Analysis. 

Karen Egan, a senior telecoms analyst at Enders Analysis, said it was “inevitable that [the UK government] would be really sensitive about telecoms, which is more critical than ever to our lives in general and particularly in today’s geopolitical environment”.

She said risks included cyber attacks, interception and networks being shut down.

Egan added that the imposed requirements could be a template for the proposed domestic merger of Vodafone and Three UK, owned by CK Hutchison, if there are any national security concerns related to the Hong Kong-based company.

Karen Egan, head of telecoms at Enders Analysis, said: “It demonstrates that there is a real sensitivity around the services that Vodafone provides and that influence from autocratic states is viewed with some caution. There will be some read across to both The Telegraph takeover case and the proposed Vodafone and Three merger. The mitigations that are suggested for the E& strategic agreement could well serve to address any sensitivities around CK Hutchison part-ownership of a merged Vodafone UKand Three”

Enders described a “cost crisis” for many publishers due to two decades of “eroding real prices” for trade books. When seen in the context of an increasingly competitive market for people’s attention, with free or low-priced entertainment and information options, books are also limited by how much prices can go up.  

But prices need to rise, according to Enders. There is little slack in the cost structure of publishers as staff and author pay is already generally low, but it proposes price discrimination based on sales channel, format and special editions as a way forward. “This would enable publishers to get a better average price, while still leaving squeezed and price-sensitive readers with low-cost options,” Enders said. 

It also “doesn’t deliver the measurable results that make it too important to boycott,” says Joseph Teasdale, head of tech at Enders Analysis. He doesn’t think the MrBeast experiment will change that. “We’ve been unable to figure out Musk’s rewarding of creators, with many saying they’ve been paid vast amounts and others almost nothing.

There’s very little transparency at Twitter. If Musk is smart he will cut a big cheque for this video – something he seems very keen to do.” But if he does, does that solve the transparency problem? “It’s only if the numbers are terrible that you can be sure they’re the real thing.”