The Austrian antitrust regulator, BWB, has opened an in-depth investigation into the proposed takeover of Yesss!, a subsidiary of Orange Austria, by Telekom Austria (TA). A final decision could take five months or longer.
Approval of this deal is seen…
The Austrian antitrust regulator, BWB, has opened an in-depth investigation into the proposed takeover of Yesss!, a subsidiary of Orange Austria, by Telekom Austria (TA). A final decision could take five months or longer.
Approval of this deal is seen as critical for the sale of Orange Austria to Hutchison, which is currently subject of a separate antitrust review by the European Commission, although the EC might soon decide to refer the investigation to the BWB, which would then take charge of both investigations..
The BWB said it has serious concerns which Orange and TA have not been able to address thus far. Remedies have not been offered by the companies at this point.
The regulator said that the deal would have an impact on several markets. Notably, in voice telephony it would increase TA’s market share to 29%, and in the fixed and mobile broadband market for private customers the merged entity would control 53% of the market.
The BWB also noted that the EC has a number of concerns with regards to the Hutchison/Orange deal.
The proposed sale of Orange Austria to Hutchison for €1.3bn was announced in early February. The same day, the companies also announced the sale of Yesss! to TA which, antitrust experts believe, was a pre-emptive move to ease antitrust concerns for the bigger Orange/Hutchison transaction.
The European Commission has to decide by tomorrow whether it wants to refer the Orange/Hutchison deal to the BWB for further investigation. Alternatively, the EC could clear the deal or open a 90 working day phase II investigation to further investigate the deal itself.
