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O2, Virgin Media merger given official go-ahead
United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced on Thursday that it has fully cleared and given the green light to the merger between Telefonica S.A's service provider O2 and Liberty Global's Virgin Media.
Following a provisional clearance last month, the CMA investigated whether the merger would lead to a decrease in quality in wholesale services that the companies provide but concluded the investigation today stating that "the deal is unlikely to lead to any substantial lessening of competition." Ultimately, the watchdog found that there are "other players in the market offering the same leased-line services" and those that "provide mobile networks for telecoms firms to use," meaning that the merged company would need to maintain the "competitiveness of its service or risk losing wholesale custom"
Martin Coleman, CMA Panel Inquiry Chair, stated: "After looking closely at the deal, we are reassured that competition amongst mobile communications providers will remain strong and it is therefore unlikely that the merger would lead to higher prices or lower quality services."