Rabo schreef op 13 september 2013 14:28:
EU Rejects German Request to Review Telefonica-KPN Deal
By Gaspard Sebag & Stephanie Bodoni - Sep 13, 2013 1:49 PM GMT+0200
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Telefonica SA (TEF) and Royal KPN NV (KPN)’s proposal to combine their German assets will be reviewed by the European Union, the bloc’s antitrust chief said today, rejecting a bid by Germany to take over the regulatory analysis.
EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia’s comments in Florence, Italy, today are a blow to German regulators who had had concerns that Telefonica’s purchase of KPN’s E-Plus unit would reduce the number of mobile phone providers in the country from four to three.
The Telefonica acquisition, valued at 8.55 billion euros ($11.36 billion), is one of two deals that may transform the German telecommunications industry once dominated by Deutsche Telekom AG. EU regulators are already examining Vodafone Group Plc (VOD)’s 7.7 billion-euro bid for Kabel Deutschland Holding AG. (KD8)
“This is very good news, it looks like this deal will go through,” Jos Versteeg, an Amsterdam-based analyst at Theodoor Gilissen Bankiers, said about the Telefonica-KPN deal.
Andreas Mundt, the head of the German Federal Cartel Office, said last month that the Telefonica deal only affects his country and should be reviewed by his office. E-Plus was also very active in price competition, he said.
Kay Weidner, a spokesman for the Cartel Office, referred to Mundt’s August statement and declined to comment further.
Telefonica Deutschland spokesman Albert Fetsch couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Stefan Simons, a spokesman for KPN, didn’t immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
National Factors
The EU will review telecommunications mergers in the telecommunications industry under a traditional analysis of national competition factors, rather than new proposals designed to create a pan-European market, Almunia said today.
Industry competition is still contained within national borders and EU antitrust regulators will continue to examine telecommunications deals based on their impact on national markets rather than the whole EU “at least for some time,” Almunia said.
The commission adopted earlier this week a plan to overhaul the EU telecommunications industry.
Under the plan, consumers in the EU would no longer have to pay premiums to receive calls while traveling in the 28-nation bloc as of mid-2014. Providers could choose to offer phone plans that apply everywhere in the region or let customers opt for a separate roaming provider without having to buy a new SIM card.
To contact the reporters on this story: Gaspard Sebag in Florence at
gsebag@bloomberg.net; Stephanie Bodoni in Florence at
sbodoni@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at
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