EU Clears T-Mobile Netherlands To Buy Orange Netherlands

BRUSSELS -(Dow Jones)- The European Commission Monday cleared Dutch mobile phone operator T-Mobile Netherlands Holding to aquire Orange Netherlands.

Orange Netherlands consists of two separate entities, Nederland Breedband and Orange Nederland, both wholly-owned indirect subsidiaries of France Telecom.

The commission found that the proposed merger would "not threaten competition on the mobile retail market," as other operators such as KPN and Vodafone Group, as well as mobile virtual network operators, would continue to compete with the new company.

T-Mobile Netherlands is an indirect subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom.

Both companies provide mobile telecommunications services in the Netherlands, with Orange Netherlands also active in broadband Internet access services.

T-Mobile is seeking to reinforce its market position in the Netherlands in order to better compete with the market leader KPN/Telfort, the commission said.

The Dutch mobile telecommunications market is characterized by very strong competition, helped by the existence of numerous mobile virtual network operators which provide significant competition to the traditional mobile network operators, the commission said.

Following the merger, T-Mobile will become the second-largest operator in terms of subscribers and the third-largest operator in terms of revenue. KPN remains the market leader in both revenues and subscribers, whereas the new entity will be of a similar strength to Vodafone, the commission said.

-By Peppi Kiviniemi, Dow Jones Newswires; +3227411483; peppi.kiviniemi@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

Posted to the site on 20th August 2007