America Movil’s Claro subsidiary in El Salvador has been thwarted by regulators once again in its attempts to take over Digicel’s unit in the country.
This is the third time that the board of the Superintendencia De Competencia (SC) has said no…
America Movil’s Claro subsidiary in El Salvador has been thwarted by regulators once again in its attempts to take over Digicel’s unit in the country.
This is the third time that the board of the Superintendencia De Competencia (SC) has said no to the deal which was agreed between the companies in early 2011. America Movil bought Digicel’s operations in El Salvador and Honduras. As part of the deal, America Movil sold its Jamaican operations to Digicel.
The El Salvadorian regulator said the planned merger would create adverse market conditions and be bad for consumers.
The board of SC also described Digicel as an “economic agent that injects competition”, saying its past commercial behaviour marked it out as a “maverick” enterprise.
It also said the merger would make it harder for new entrants to get into the market, create one player considerably larger than others in the market, and mean that one company owned more than half of the country’s spectrum.
“America Movil is analyzing the resolution notified on September 27 to our subsidiary in El Salvador in order to determine how to proceed on the transaction,” said a company spokesperson, who added that the it can appeal again.
A spokesperson from Digicel said that the company was examining the 129 page ruling.
