Hutchison wins EU nod for telecom bid in Ireland
Print Edition
HONG Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa got the approval of the European Union’s competition authority yesterday for its US$1 billion bid for Telefonica’s Irish mobile business in a case that could set the regulatory tone for Telefonica’s bigger pending German merger deal.
Approval of the Hutchison takeover and Telefonica Deutschland’s US$12 billion bid for Dutch firm KPN’s German subsidiary E-Plus could open the way to further consolidation in a sector struggling with its fifth year of declining revenue and the need to upgrade networks for high-speed broadband.
Hutchison, controlled by Asia’s richest man, Li Ka-shing, is strengthening its position in Europe, where it operates in six countries. Hutchison already has the fourth-largest mobile network in Ireland with 3 Ireland and is now adding the second-biggest operator O2 Ireland.
The European Commission said approval was conditional on Hutchison selling up to 30 percent of the merged company’s network capacity to two mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), which use the networks of other companies to offer telecoms services.
Sources have said Hutchison is in talks with European cable operator Liberty Global to help the US-listed company become an MVNO in Ireland.
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