The 50-50 joint venture agreed last December would have combined the number two and number three operators in the Danish mobile market, creating the largest player both in terms of revenue and number of subscribers, followed by a similar-sized TDC and smaller 3. The companies had said the intense competitive pressure in the Danish market in recent years has limited their ability to invest. By combining their assets and customer bases, they expected to generate significant cost savings, freeing up cash for investment.
In April the European Commission opened an in-depth investigation of the proposed merger, expressing concern about the impact on competition in the Danish market. The operators offered a number of concessions to gain the EC's approval, such as selling spectrum and renting capacity on their network to a new operator. Their latest proposal would have given a new operator a stake in a new network infrastructure venture to be set up, according to a report from Reuters.
In the end it appears the concessions were not enough to resolve the EC's concerns while also keep the merger economically viable. TeliaSonera and Telenor said they will continue now with their individual operations in Denmark, which are still fully up and running, while reviewing their strategic options in the Danish market.
