Hutchison Whampoa has been on a turbulent journey with Three, its ambitious attempt to play a major role in Europe’s mobile broadband market. Since it was founded amid the bursting of Europe’s 3G bubble in 2002, it is moving quickly on to 4G, and seeking mergers to bring it the scale it has never achieved through organic growth alone, despite a string of disruptive tactics which have certainly helped boost competition, and squeeze prices, in the region. The Hong Kong parent company has already achieved mergers with former rivals in Ireland (Telefonica O2) and Austria (Orange), and a network sharing joint venture with Telenor in Sweden, called Hi3G. It is now looking to join forces with O2 (again) in the…