European Commission blocks proposed acquisition of O2 by Hutchison

Today's decision follows an in-depth investigation by the Commission of the deal, which would have combined the UK's second and fourth largest mobile network operators (MNO) Telefónica UK's "O2" and Hutchison 3G UK's "Three" to create the largest MNO in the country. The Commission stated that the remedies proposed by Hutchison "failed to adequately address the serious concerns raised by the takeover" and outlined the removal of a competitor to leave only Vodafone and BT's Everything Everywhere (EE) to challenge the merged entity as a deciding factor. It added that this reduced competition would have also been likely to increase the cost of mobile services in the UK and presented less choice for consumers.

Another factor raised in the Commission's findings was that the takeover would have been likely to impact on quality of service for UK consumers by hampering the development of mobile network infrastructure in the UK. It concluded that the takeover would have reduced the number of mobile network operators willing to host other mobile operators on their networks.