German regulator starts turf battle over KPN-Telefonica deal
DUESSELDORF, Germany (Reuters) - Germany is seeking to take the lead in the regulatory scrutiny of Telefonica Deutschland's 8.6 billion euro (7.1 billion pounds) takeover of KPN's German unit E-Plus, arguing the deal requires an in-depth examination.
The European Commission was due to decide by December 6 whether to approve the deal, which will reduce the number of mobile operators in Germany to three from four, or launch a detailed investigation of the tie-up.
That decision is now expected to be delayed by 10 working days, while the Commission considers whether to hand over the case to Germany's antitrust regulator or not.
Analysts have been expecting an in-depth investigation of the transaction, as have Telefonica and KPN, which have said they do not expect to close the deal until the summer.
The German antitrust watchdog - the Bundeskartellamt - said it had the backing of the country's federal ministry for economic affairs in its request to be given the leading regulatory role in the case.
"This case requires an in-depth examination of whether the merger between the two mobile network operators would lead to competition problems," Andreas Mundt, head of the Bundeskartellamt, said in a statement.
"The merger exclusively affects the German mobile communications markets. A referral of the case to the Bundeskartellamt would thus be the right approach."
European Commission spokesman for competition policy, Antoine Colombani, declined to comment.
The case is expected by many investors and sector executives to be a watershed moment for the European telecoms industry, since it would reduce the number of players in the region's largest market with some 110 million subscribers, and could have implications for other merger and acquisition deals.
Antitrust lawyers have told Reuters that Telefonica will try win approval for the deal by pledging to divest spectrum and rent access on its networks to new virtual operators.
(Reporting by Matthias Inverardi; Additional reporting by Foo Yun Chee in Brussels; Writing by Ludwig Burger and Harro ten Wolde; Editing by Mark Potter)
