The European Commission is expected to soon restart its investigation into the proposed €850m takeover of O2 Ireland by Hutchison.
A person familiar with the situation told TelecomFinance that the investigation could continue as soon as Friday, or in…
The European Commission is expected to soon restart its investigation into the proposed €850m takeover of O2 Ireland by Hutchison.
A person familiar with the situation told TelecomFinance that the investigation could continue as soon as Friday, or in the following week.
A spokesperson for the European Commission refused to comment.
At the beginning of the month the European Commission had suspended the review, saying it required additional information from the merging parties before it could restart procedures.
In the meantime talks to tweak remedies to secure antitrust approval have continued. Third parties are also involved in some aspects of the talks, TelecomFinance was told. This could indicate that Hutchison is finalising an agreement with an MVNO that would use its spectrum.
This publication reported earlier that Irish cableco UPC is interested in launching an MVNO, and that it might even get some spectrum from Hutchison to upgrade it as part of a comprehensive remedies deal.
The merger control procedure was launched in early October 2013 and its deadline had been extended several times before the EC stopped the clock on 1 April. The most recent deadline for a decision was 28 May. But once the procedure officially restarts, the time lost while the investigation was halted – about a month now – will be added and the deadline will be pushed back accordingly.
The EC is currently also investigating the proposed sale of KPN’s E-Plus to O2 Germany. The deadline for this review is 23 June 2014.