The European Commission has yesterday launched a market test of remedies offered by Hutchison to address concerns regarding the proposed acquisition of Orange Austria.
At the heart of the market test is Hutchison’s recently formalised offer to allow…
The European Commission has yesterday launched a market test of remedies offered by Hutchison to address concerns regarding the proposed acquisition of Orange Austria.
At the heart of the market test is Hutchison’s recently formalised offer to allow third party MVNOs to use its network in Austria. The company claims it will offer the most competitive access prices in Europe, and that it has already signed an MoU with an interested party that already has operations in the country.
TelecomFinance understands that Liberty Global subsidiary UPC is this party, although Hutchison refused to confirm the information.
The remedies are designed to address anti-competitive concerns raised by the regulator.
The questionnaire was sent to competitors, European operators of MVNOs, consumer groups and also the Austrian antitrust regulator, BWB. Feedback is due around the middle of next week.
Provided that the feedback is overall positive, Hutchison hopes that a conditional clearance decision could come at one point in October. The deadline for the ongoing investigation is 27 November.
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