The EC has unconditionally approved the proposed creation of a mobile commerce JV between Vodafone, Telefonica and Everything Everywhere in the UK. Joaquin Almunia, Commission Vice President in charge of Competition policy, said that mobile commerce was a nascent sector and that the Commission was keen to promote innovation in this area. The Commission's preliminary investigation had indicated potential competition concerns in the markets of mobile payment applications supply (so-called mobile wallets), mobile advertising and related data analytics services. Following an in-depth investigation, it has concluded that the JV will not likely lead to a significant impediment to effective competition in the EEA.
The decision was welcomed by Everything Everywhere, Telefonica and Vodafone. They now plan to start getting their Project Oscar JV up and running as quickly as possible, starting with the hiring of the necessary people and the creation of the new company. They expect the mobile marketing platform to the first part of the business that is brought to market. The shareholders said they remain committed to making the JV services open to all, including all operators and MVNOs, 3rd party publishers, banks, advertising agencies, retailers and any company that wants to be active in this market.
