Alex Trelinski
PLANS for a €18.6 billion merger between two of Spain’s biggest telecoms companies Orange and MasMovil are under threat from the European Commission(EC).
The news comes as the Olive Press reported on Wednesday that Vodafone are reportedly considering pulling out of Spain due to falling income and tough competition.
The EC want Orange and MasMovil to address concerns about the impact on competition in the Spanish market if they join forces to make them the biggest mobile operator in Spain.
The two companies announced their merger intention while the EC has been investigating the deal since April, with business news company Bloomberg saying that it plans to raise some objections.
The EC may put forward some amendments like selling assets or making the new network interoperable with rivals.
Orange currently serves close to 17 million mobile customers in Spain, while Yoigo, which is the MasMovil mobile brand, has 9.1 million subscribers.
Movistar and Vodafone are the two other big mobile operators in the Spain, with 19.3 million and 13.3 million mobile subscribers respectively.
Vodafone expressed an interest in a merger with MasMovil before the latter plumped for Orange as an alternative.
READ MORE:
- Vodafone could quit Spain as telecoms-mobile market heats up
- Orange and MasMovil announce merger plans to create biggest mobile operator in Spain
