The European Commission has approved Orange and Dutch pension investor APG taking joint control of Polish wholesale broadband provider Nexera.
The deal was cleared under the EU Merger Regulation, the Commission said in a release on Monday.
It relates mainly to Poland’s telecoms market, particularly wholesale broadband access — services that let retail internet providers use another company’s network to sell broadband to customers.
The Commission said it found the transaction would not raise competition concerns because it would have a limited impact in the markets where the companies operate.
Competition assessment
The merged business will continue to face competition from other wholesale broadband access providers in Poland, including Fiberhost, PSO, Vectra and Tauron, the Commission said.
Orange and Nexera’s activities are largely complementary, with limited overlap in the areas where they operate.
The Commission also assessed whether the transaction could allow the companies to exclude rivals, but dismissed those concerns, noting that APG will have joint control of Nexera and would not financially benefit from such actions.
The deal was reviewed under the normal merger procedure, the Commission said, with further details published in its online case register under reference M.12341.
