MILAN – After the stick, the carrot. The Antitrust Authority has taken note of the commitments made by Wind and H3G and given the green light to the merger between the two Italian phone companies. The transaction remains subject to entry of the French Iliad on the Italian mobile phone market. “We can approve the agreement because Hutchison and VimpelCom have submitted substantial corrective measures that enable a new mobile network operator, Iliad, access to the Italian market,” said EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. The decision today the EU Commission is the result of a thorough investigation on the transaction involving the merger of Wind (controlled by Russian VimpelCom) and H3G (a subsidiary of Hutchison), respectively third and fourth operator on the Italian retail market for telephony services mobile. Actual structural remedies offered by Hutchison and VimpelCom “dissolve all the doubts raised by the Commission in terms of competition” as it “will allow to enter the Italian market a new mobile network operator, the French telecommunications company Iliad” . Only in May Brussels had blocked in Britain the acquisition of O2 by Telefonica by Hutchison 3G in the UK, for “very concerned that customers of mobile telephony British would have less choice and would pay higher prices following the operation, which also damage the innovation in a very important area. ” In that case, according to Brussels the remedies proposed by Hutchison “have not adequately addressed the serious EU fears” and – also – “the acquisition would have created a new British market leader in mobile telephony, removing an important competitor and leaving only two operators , Vodafone and BT’s Everything Everywhere (EE), to compete with the merged entity. ” In the Italian case, however, “the parties may grow by exploiting the benefits of the merger of their respective activities, while Italians mobile phone users continue to benefit from effective competition.” In detail, the corrective measures to address the concerns of Brussels are: the transfer to the new operator (Iliad) of a given quantity of the mobile spectrum in the joint venture from different frequency bands (900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz and 2600 MHz). Then, the transfer / co-location (ie sharing) of several thousand sites for base stations moving from the joint venture to the new operator. Finally, a transitional arrangement (for access to 2G, 3G and 4G, and new technologies) that allows the new entrant to use the network of the joint venture to offer mobile services to customers nationwide until it has failed to establish its own network. in fact, the transfer of blocks of frequencies and mobile base station sites will allow the new operator to develop and launch its network in Italy and to act as a fourth mobile operator, providing services retail consumer and wholesale access to virtual network operators. “today’s decision means that in Italy the sector to remain competitive, so that consumers can continue to enjoy services innovative furniture at fair prices and quality of networks, “said Vestager, stressing that” this case shows that European telecommunications companies can grow not only consolidated within the same country, subject to effective competition, but also expanding across borders, as Iliad in this case. “ the integration of the two groups will create an operator with 31 million customers in the mobile and 2.8 million fixed. In addition, the new entity that will be born from the marriage between Wind and 3 Italy will benefit from synergies that will allow savings of 700 million euro per year permitting – say the two companies – the “unlock investments for seven billion euro in digital infrastructure in Italy “. Total revenues of the two companies in 2015 amounted to 6.25 billion euro.
- Topics:
- Wind
- H3g
- VimpelCom
- Starring:
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