Brussels, 28/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the European Commission authorised Vodafone Group Plc to take full control of the second largest Spanish mobile telephone operator, Airtel Movil SA. The operation will take place the acquisition by Vodafone of shares held by British Telecom Plc (BT) within Airtel. The European executive feels that this takeover will not create competition problems on either the Spanish market for mobile telephony nor on any other market it is linked to.
Vodafone does not have a mobile telephony network and does not directly offer telephony services to Spanish consumers, other than through Airtel. On its side, Airtel does not offer services of this kid outside of Spain. Following the planned operation Vodafone and Airtel activities will not overlap for this type of services. Furthermore, with regards to the provision of pan-European mobile telephony services, the Commission concluded that the acquisition by Vodafone of the full control of Airtel would not contribute towards noticeably improving the ability of these two companies to provide such services. It feels that the operation will not significantly increase the European position of Vodafone and the fact that BT leaves Airtel will not have a concrete impact on Vodafone's ability to provide pan-European mobile telephony services. Vodafone already launched an offer for a pan-European service (the Eurocall system) to which Airtel is participating. Even if competition problems should arise, the Commission feels that the undertakings made by Vodafone in the framework of VodafoneAirTouch/Mannesmann should prevent the development of the Vodafone network, giving rise to competition problems to which it would be unable to bring a solution. It concluded that it was not necessary to extend the existing undertakings beyond April 2003.
The Commission also assessed the impact of the operation of the markets for wholesale international roaming services and questioned whether the acquisition would provide Vodafone with the possibility of disadvantaging third parties for the provision of pan-European services by closing access to these network. It concluded that the acquisition in question does not provoke any significant problem as Vodafone continues to face present and potential competitors for the provision of roaming services both in Spain and in other countries where the company is present. The Commission also revealed the undertakings made by VodafoneAirTouch/Mannesmann forcing Vodafone to provide an open access to its networks to competing operators providing pan-European services.