European Commission approves merger of T-Mobile and Tele2

It was already expected yesterday and now the ball is in the court: the European Commission has approved the merger of the Dutch branch of T-Mobile and Tele2. There are no additional conditions attached to the permission. This is probably due to certain commitments made by T-Mobile.

In recent years, the European Commission has often imposed strict requirements on mergers of telecom providers. Four would be a good number to stimulate competition and ensure that networks remain good and consumers enjoy the best offer. But the Commission seems to be coming back to that. In this case, the European Commission does not expect that consumers will be more expensive, or that the quality of service will be lower.

Greater impact force

The merger is expected to be completed by early 2019. T-Mobile has a total of 190 million euros for the Dutch activities of Tele2. In addition, Tele2’s parent company will own a quarter of the merged entity. For Deutsche Telekom, which owns T-Mobiel Nederland, there is a share of 75 percent.

Together, the companies think they can compete better with the two largest players in the Dutch market: KPN and VodafoneZiggo. It is expected that the merger of T-Mobile and Tele2 will give them more combined strength and thus enable them to offer better packages for consumers and businesses.

Better offer

Søren Abildgaard, CEO of T-Mobile Nederland, announces in a press release that he is pleased with the news. We can now deliver on our promises to accelerate the introduction of 5G and make fiber available. In addition, we will continue to offer Unlimited mobile Internet at competitive prices. In addition, there will be more freedom of contract for customers. I can’t wait to get started.

Until they merge, the two companies remain competitors of each other. The focus is on the integration of T-Mobile and Tele2, where the interests of customers and staff remain paramount.