The European Union antitrust authority has blocked the acquisition of the British O2 (currently in the hands of the Spanish Telefonica group) by the Asian conglomerate Hutchison, also present in the United Kingdom with the “Three” brand (like Tre in Italy).
According to Brussels, the operation would reduce competition and cause a rise in prices for British consumers, also hindering "innovation in the mobile communications sector".
This decision by the European Antitrust – which is expected – does not appear to be a favorable premise for the merger in Italy between Tre and Wind (controlled by the Vimpelcom group), still being studied by the same Authority.
On the other hand, the Italian telecommunications market differs from the British one for at least two fundamental reasons.
First of all, in the United Kingdom the purchase of O2 by Three would have reduced operators to two, while in our country – if the Tre-Wind merger goes through – they would go from four to three.
Secondly, the distribution of market shares in Italy would in any case remain balanced, since no operator would have a clear prevalence over the others. In fact, the market would essentially be divided into three similar shares, equal to about one third each.
The final decision, however, lies with the EU Antitrust in this case as well.
