3 Min Read LONDON/MADRID (Reuters) - Britain’s competition regulator cleared a $44 billion merger between broadband company Virgin Media and Telefonica’s UK mobile network O2 on Thursday, after a months-long review. FILE PHOTO: A man walks past an O2 phone store in Manchester, Britain March 7, 2016. REUTERS/Phil Noble Virgin owner Liberty Global and Spain’s Telefonica, who agreed a year ago to forge a broadband and mobile powerhouse to challenge market leader BT, hailed the decision as “a watershed moment in the history of telecommunications in the UK”. “We are reassured that competition amongst mobile communications providers will remain strong and it is therefore unlikely that the merger would lead to higher prices or lower quality services,” Martin Coleman of Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said.