Greece’s communications regulator approved a plan to combine passive infrastructure owned by rival operators Vodafone Greece and Wind Hellas, with the assets set to be moved into a standalone company and leased back.

In a statement, the Hellenic Telecommunications and Post Commission (EETT) noted having assessed the proposal for competition and potential issues around third party access, it concluded the deal was unlikely to cause significant issues.

The authority did, however, note there would be a “high degree of concentration” in the market as a result, though any impacts were apparently not enough to reject the deal.

Under an agreement struck in July between Vodafone Group and Wind Hellas’ controlling shareholder Crystal Almond, a combined 5,200 towers from the two operators will be moved into the newly formed Vantage Towers Greece.

The infrastructure company will be majority owned by Vodafone Group through European tower subsidiary Vantage Towers. Crystal Almond will receive €25 million in cash and a 38 per cent stake in the Greek tower business.

It is the lattest attempt by Vodafone to beef-up the assets held by its Vantage Towers spin-off, which the company plans to list on the Frankfurt stock exchange in early 2021.