The European Commission is set to approve Orange’s €3.4 billion takeover of Spanish fixed operator Jazztel now that Orange has agreed to sell assets that overlap with Jazztel and offer wholesale capacity to rivals, according to a Reuters report.
The deal will enable Orange to better compete with rivals in the country who are ahead in offering converged, fixed-mobile packages. Incumbent Telefonica has a built-in advantage in that regard and Vodafone acquired cable operator Ono in 2014.
In addition to selling overlapping assets, such as Jazztel’s fibre optic network, Orange is prepared to offer wholesale broadband capacity to rivals on its target’s ADSL network.
Jazztel also offers mobile services as an MVNO.
The EC and Orange both declined to comment. The Commission has previously set a 1 June deadline for its decision.
In March, Orange gave ground over Jazztel to the EC, according to a media report. It was not revealed at the time what had been offered, although the commission’s website noted that commitments had been made by Orange.
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