Argentina's antitrust watchdog CNDC has finally given its green light to the merger of Telecom Argentina with cable TV provider Cablevision following a 10-month review process but has applied a number of conditions to the deal. These include the requirement to divest fixed broadband assets in 28 different areas in Argentina where the merged companies are the only providers. The corresponding 143,464 customers in the five affected provinces (Cordoba, Buenos Aires, Entre Rios, Misiones and Santa Fe) will have to be passed on to a new operator, said the CNDC in a statement.
The regulator also required Telecom Argentina-Cablevision not to bundle its services into quadruple play packages for another 6 to 12 months, depending on the region, with a view to preventing the merged company from benefiting from the advantages of being the first operator to offer the service.
Communications regulator Enacom approved the merger of Telecom Argentina and Cablevision earlier this year, creating the country’s largest company and allowing it to move into the quad-play market. In January the watchdog also authorised Claro (America Movil) and Telefonica to offer pay-TV services in specific cities throughout the country.
In its statement, the CNDC called on Enacom and the country’s modernisation ministry to speed up the process requiring Telecom Argentina and Cablevision to return 80 MHz of spectrum to the state to avoid exceeding the limit for a single company.
