Telefonica Deutschland (O2) has offered improved commitments to secure regulatory approval for its planned takeover of German mobile operator E-Plus from Dutch telco KPN, prompting the European Commission (EC) to further extend its review.
The EC said…
Telefonica Deutschland (O2) has offered improved commitments to secure regulatory approval for its planned takeover of German mobile operator E-Plus from Dutch telco KPN, prompting the European Commission (EC) to further extend its review.
The EC said in a short statement that the provisional deadline for its in-depth phase II review is now 23 June 2014.
The EC will now review the remedy proposal and is expected to ask third parties for comment in a subsequent market test, possibly after further tweaks to the proposal have been agreed.
The development follows an extension last week, when all parties agreed to lengthen the investigation by 10 working days to 28 May, giving Telefonica more time to devise remedies.
The original deadline for the phase II review of the €8.55bn (US$11.7bn) deal, which would reduce the number of mobile network operators in Germany from four to three, was 14 May.
EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said recently that he expects the EC to announce its decision on the E-Plus case in June.
