Anacom’s opinion against TMN’s merger with Optimus

Jornal de Notícias yesterday released Anacom’s preliminary opinion regarding Sonaecom’s takeover bid on Portugal Telecom, where the regulator reveals a favorable opinion on the possible sale of one of PT’s fixed networks, although it is against the merger between mobile operators TMN and Optimus.

The opinion would have been sent in April to the Autoridade da Concorrência (AdC) and is not binding, being still noted as a preliminary, says the newspaper.

Diário Económico advances today that Anacom may also deliver to the Competition Authority a second opinion on the OPA, this time with more information that Pedro Neves’ team guaranteed at the time not having available.

Anacom’s main concern in relation to the takeover is focused on the mobile market, which is already highly concentrated, where the immediate impact of the merger between the two companies would create a situation of duopoly that is unusual in the European Union markets.

According to Jornal de Notícias, Anacom adds that experiences in other countries show that this type of situation tends to create collusion.

The market regulator further suggests in the opinion that even if the Competition Authority approves the merger, the transmission of the radio spectrum must be analyzed by Anacom, which may require new measures as it considers that there is a distortion of the market balance.

The Competition Authority is expected to complete the analysis of the Sonaecom takeover bid by the end of July, and the question of the remedies proposed by the Belmiro de Azevedo company is currently being debated so that the takeover bid can proceed.

It is recalled that Sonaecom has repeatedly argued that the OPA is dependent on the possibility of merging TMN and Optimus.

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2006-06-21 – Henrique Granadeiro wants greater Government intervention in the OPA2006-05-25 – Sonaecom secures 1% of the capital of Portugal Telecom2006-03-07 – PT wants to distribute 3 billion euros to shareholders and admits to autonomous fixed wholesale business2006 -02-06 – Sonae SGPS launches takeover bid on Portugal Telecom