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EU: Commission clears Altice’s €7.4 billion acquisition of PT Portugal

By  |  April 20, 2015

The European Commission has given the go-ahead to Altice’s planned €7.4 billion acquisition of Portugal Telecom’s domestic operations provided it sells its existing Portuguese businesses.

Allowing Altice to merge Portugal Telecom with its ONI and Cabovisão units could distort competition in the fixed-line market, the Commission said in a statement on Monday. Cable operator Cabovisão offers pay TV and fixed broadband to the residential market, while ONI is primarily a business services provider.

Altice offered to sell the businesses in order to remove the overlap between its activities and those of Portugal Telecom, thereby smoothing the regulatory path.

“My wish is to ensure that the merger will not lead to higher prices and less competition for Portuguese consumers,” said European competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager. “The commitments offered by the parties address this concern.”

 

Full Content: The Wall Street Journal

 

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