Telenor and TeliaSonera said the European Commission has addressed a statement of objections to the companies regarding the proposed merger of their operations in Denmark but they are confident that it will be approved during the second half of 2015. They said that, contrary to the concerns raised in the statement of objections, they firmly believe that the merger would ultimately be beneficial for competition and Danish consumers. They added that a statement of objections is an ordinary event in the context of a merger of this type.
They said that a fundamental change is needed because competition in the Danish mobile market is fierce and will remain so. Combining Telia and Telenor there would create a company with the scale and the capacity to better invest and compete on price, quality and innovation, they claimed. Delivering on this requires investments and in recent years, this has been a challenge, they said, and the status quo would lead to a continued drop in investment. The priority is to provide best possible service for their customers, and the businesses that rely on them every day.
