EU conditions meant to guarantee competition in Belgian market
The European Commission cleared the acquisition of Belgian mobile operator BASE by U.S. company Liberty Global, the European body said in a statement.
In April 2015, Liberty Global’s Belgian subsidiary Telenet agreed to acquire BASE for 1.33 billion euro (currently $1.48 billion) from Dutch telecom operator KPN. The European Commission said final approval is conditioned on the implementation of commitments to ensure effective competition in the Belgian mobile market.
“We have made sure that Liberty Global’s merger with BASE will not reverse the trend of declining mobile prices in Belgium in recent years,” said Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. “To maintain healthy competition in the Belgian mobile market, Liberty Global and BASE will sell part of their customer base to a new virtual mobile operator.”
Under terms of the agreement, BASE will merge its operation with compatriot cable operator Telenet, controlled by Liberty Global. Telenet offers fixed telecommunications services in Flanders and parts of Brussels. The operator also offers mobile services through a mobile virtual network operator model.
In order to obtain the final approval by the European authorities, Liberty Global committed to sell BASE’s share in Mobile Vikings, a MVNO that uses BASE’s network, to Belgian broadcaster Medialaan. Liberty will also transfer part of BASE’s customer base to Medialaan. BASE and Medialaan currently have an agreement under which BASE sells mobile services under the brand JIM Mobile, owned by Medialaan. Liberty Global will transfer the customers of the JIM Mobile brand to Medialaan, the European Commission said.
Liberty Global has also signed a deal with Medialaan, giving the latter access to BASE’s mobile network at conditions that will allow Medialaan to compete effectively as a full MVNO.
“Without effective commitments, a merger of these two dynamic players would have significantly reduced competition, with a risk of higher prices and less choice and innovation for Belgian mobile consumers,” the statement said.
According to KPN’s latest financial report, BASE’s LTE network currently covers approximately 90% of Belgian population. The telco had initially launched LTE services in October 2013 using spectrum in the 1800MHz band.
