Germany's Federal Cartel Office has lodged an application to the European Commission requesting that the Telefonica Germany/E-Plus merger case be referred to the German competition authority for investigation. Federal Cartel Office President Andreas Mundt said the case required an in-depth examination of whether the merger would harm competition in the German mobile market. The application has the approval of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology.
Telefonica applied at end-October to the European Commission for clearance of the merger. The EC has set a deadline of 20 December to decide on whether to refer the case back to the German regulator. The EC may also decide to rule on the case itself or conduct its own in-depth investigation.
KPN, the owner of E-Plus, has said it expects a regulatory decision by mid-2014. Its shareholders have already approved the sale for EUR 5 billion plus a 20.5 percent stake in the merged German operator. According to research by Telecompaper, the merger of E-Plus and O2 would result in a subscriber market share of 38.5 percent, based on Q2 figures. This would make it the biggest operator in Germany, ahead of Deutsche Telecom with 33.0 percent and Vodafone Germany with 31.5 percent.
