The proceedings for the approval of Telefonica Germany's takeover of E-Plus might be reopened as new telecom operator Airdata filed a complaint at the European Court of Justice against what it said were inadequate controls by the European Commission, teltarif.de reports. According to Airdata CEO Christian Irmler, the EC should not have approved of the takeover because the commitments made by Telefonica are not enough to pursue vigorous competition.
In a press release, Airdata writes that due to the takeover, the number of mobile providers in Germany decreased from four to three, resulting in Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone Germany and Telefonica being able to dictate prices. Airdata uses the Austrian market as an example for a 30-percent price increase as a result of the takeover of Orange by Hutchison Whampoa.
According to Airdata, the conditions for the allocation of frequencies provides that frequency licensees have to be independent throughout the whole duration of use, and this would imply that some frequencies should have been returned. Instead, Telefonica can keep unused frequencies which Airdata claims are frequencies on the 2.6 GHz band, including their own.
Irmler said that the Federal Network Agency asked Airdata repeatedly to disconnect its regional broadband network to vacate the freqeuncies for Telefonica, even though no commercial use takes place. Therefore he considers the decision that Telefonica and E-Plus can keep the frequencies unlawful and uncompetitive. The administrative court in Cologne will deal with this matter on 10 June in a public hearing.
