Even after the receipt of Hutchison Whampoa’s amended remedies package for its proposed €1.3bn takeover of Orange Austria, the European Commission (EC) still has “serious competition concerns”.
Speaking at a recent conference on competition…
Even after the receipt of Hutchison Whampoa’s amended remedies package for its proposed €1.3bn takeover of Orange Austria, the European Commission (EC) still has “serious competition concerns”.
Speaking at a recent conference on competition policy, law and economics in Italy, EC vice president Joaquin Almunia said the commission’s preliminary view of the proposed deal is that “substantial remedies” are needed to address the competition concerns it believes exist.
The planned merger is currently the subject of an in-depth, phase II investigation in Brussels.
Hutchison recently submitted an amended set of remedies to the commission in reply to its formal “statement of objections” in September. The EC subsequently extended the deadline for the investigation to 21 December. According to European merger regulations, this latest remedies package is final and the companies cannot offer further concessions going forward.
While details of the final remedies package remained undisclosed, it is known that Hutchison previously offered to allow MVNOs to operate on its network going forward, including those that want to offer 4G services. The company has already signed an agreement with UPC for the launch of an MVNO provided the merger closes successfully. Tele2 is also said to be interested.
Meanwhile, rival T-Mobile Austria has restated calls for spectrum-related remedies. In an interview with a local business newspaper late last month, CEO Andreas Bierwirth called for a refarming of frequencies, saying the merged Hutchison/Orange entity would otherwise gain a two-year advantage over competitors. He threatened that T-Mobile would significantly reduce investments and potentially even exit the country if regulators do not resolve the issue satisfactorily.
