James Delahunty
1 Mar 2010 15:55
The European Commission has cleared the proposed merger of Orange and T-Mobile in the UK, a deal that would create the largest mobile operator in the United Kingdom. The Commission cleared the merger after Orange and T-Mobile agreed to make changes to ensure competition in the market and to give up some of the wireless spectrum that would be allocated to the new company.
"I am happy that we managed to resolve the competition issues in this case quickly in close cooperation with the Member State concerned," European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said in a statement. The Commission had raised concerns about the merger, in particular what effect it would have on 3UK, owned by Hong Kong-based conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa.
"With the merger... there will be only four players in the UK, hence the concerns about the fate of 3UK," it said," the commission said.
"In order to address the competition concerns... the parties concluded a revised agreement with 3UK which will secure its position as a competitive force on the market. The Commission concluded that the commitments offered by the parties remedy the identified competition concerns."