Yesterday, UK mobile operator O2 announced the purchase of Be, a broadband provider, for £50 million to push it into the quadruple play arena. Be is fairly young, but are importantly putting their own equipment into BT exchanges, and as such provides O2 a bit more flexibility in broadband expansion.

What do you need to successfully pull of quadruple play? Well, O2 put a £30 million bet on buying the remaining 40 percent of the Link, a retail electronics chain, that it doesn't own to give it a channel to market. The move is bold and interesting, and observers expect the Link to be rebranded as O2 shops. Owning physical storefronts will provide O2 with a venue to actually show customers how all the bits of quadruple play fit together will be key to persuading them to take such as package.