EC approves Carphone's Tiscali takeover

The takeover of Tiscali UK by Carphone Warehouse was approved by the European Commission today.

The link between the telecoms/internet service provider and the mobile phone retailer was cleared under EU rules on fair competition.

The Commission ruled that the new merged group would still face strong competition in the sector, especially from BT.

A Commission statement said: “The activities of Carphone Warehouse and Tiscali UK overlap in retail and wholesale internet access provision, as well as in retail fixed line telephony services.

“The Commission’s analysis focused in particular on the domestic sector of broadband services, where the merged entity will become one of the main competitors to the incumbent operator BT.

“The Commission’s examination of the proposed transaction showed that none of the above markets would give rise to competition concerns.”

It added: “The new entity will continue to face competition from a number of strong players, especially BT, as well as from a number of strong alternative operators, including those based on the cable platform.

“Competition from other technologies, such as mobile telecommunications, is also growing.”