Competition Council voices concerns over Vodafone, Digi's intention to take over Telekom

 The Competition Council has several concerns regarding the transactions through which mobile company Vodafone Romania S.A. intends to take over Telekom Romania Mobile Communications S.A., and Digi Romania S.A. certain assets of the same company."It is essential that, as a result of these transactions, the quality of services to consumers does not decrease, but on the contrary, improves. We want to make sure that networks will operate at high standards, that coverage and speed of services will remain competitive, and that infrastructure investment plans will continue. So that users benefit from better services in the long term. We assess all the effects on competition and collaborate with the National Communications Regulatory Agency (ANCOM), but we also want to find out the points of view of those affected," Chairman off the Competition Council Bogdan Chiritoiu, said in a press statement release by the council.According to the competition authority, the concerns regard, among other things, the price conditions and the impact on the quality of certain services offered to customers. Thus, the two transactions could negatively affect the quality of mobile internet services, in terms of average data download speed, and there is concern that the spectrum resources that the two companies would have may not be fully utilised.Also, the Competition Council considers that Orange Romania S.A.'s access to colocation services on Telekom Romania Mobile Communications S.A.'s mobile telecommunications sites could be affected and, in addition, the transactions would have a negative impact on the wholesale market of access and call origination services in mobile networks in Romania, following the possible disappearance of Telekom as a provider of such services."This aspect, related to the lack of a viable alternative from Digi, could lead to worsening access offers for mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs). Another concern regards the fact that the availability of pre-paid mobile telephone services for Telekom customers taken over by Digi Romania could be affected: there is a risk that it will offer these services for a very short period, at lower quality and price, and then the company will give up providing them."The transaction by which Vodafone Romania S.A. intends to take over Telekom Romania Mobile Communications S.A. could affect the pricing conditions that will benefit the post-paid customers of Telekom who will be taken over and the pricing conditions of the machine-to-machine (M2M) services provided by Telekom Mobile Romania Communications S.A. Additionally, the commercial conditions under which Telekom will provide to Veridian could also be affected Systems SRL hosting services under the concluded contract.The two companies involved in these operations may submit to the Council proposals for commitments aimed at removing the identified concerns regarding the impact on the competitive environment, and those will be evaluated and submitted for public consultation on the institution's website.Digi intends to take over some of Telekom's assets such as the rights to use some radio frequencies, part of towers, their infrastructure and equipment, as well as the entire activity of providing prepaid mobile phone services.Vodafone Romania S.A. wants to take over Telekom Romania Mobile Communications S.A.