European regulators need to allow phone businesses within a country to merge to avoid them being choked by network costs, a top industry group said yesterday.

Hutchison Whampoa is offering to help a smaller rival become Ireland’s fourth mobile operator in a bid to win EU approval for its acquisition of Telefonica’s O2 Ireland unit, according to sources.

Hutchison Whampoa has offered to give network access to several virtual network operators in a bid to win EU approval to buy Telefonica’s Irish unit, according to sources.

The ISEQ in Dublin was up 34 points to 5160 just before 11am today on fairly sluggish Monday morning volume.