EC presses pause on Orange-MásMovíl merger probe

The European Commission has pressed pause on its probe into the planned €18.6 billion merger of Orange España and rival MásMovíl to get more information from the parties involved.

The EC ‘stopped the clock’ on its investigation in a procedure triggered when the parties fail to provide important information that has been requested.

The clock will be restarted when the EC receives the information it requested. The pause means that the deadline for a decision will be pushed back.

The combination of the pair is contentious because it would reduce the number of big mobile service providers in Spain from four to three.

Orange has meanwhile approved a reduction in the capital of its Spanish unit of €500 million to equalise the value of the unit with that of MásMovíl, paving the way for the creation of a joint venture.

The capital value of Orange España will be reduced from €1.098 billion to €598 million.

The moves relating to the merger come as MásMovíl posted solid first half financial results with revenues up 2.5% to €1.479 billion and adjusted EBITDA up 12% to €602 million.

Service revenue was up 5% to €1.233 billion.

MásMovíl’s total customer base grew by 5% year-on-year to 15.7 million revenue-generating units, including 3.4 million broadband customers.

“We are very satisfied with our performance during the first half of the year, during with we have accelerated our growth both in telecom service revenues and total revenues. Moreover, we maintained a good rhythm of retention thanks to having the most satisfied customers in the market,” said MásMovíl CEO Meinrad Spenger.