BT Group has received the final clearance from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for its takeover of EE. The £12.5 billion acquisition brings together the UK’s largest fixed telecoms business and the UK’s largest mobile telecoms business.
According to a statement by CMA, BT and EE operate largely in separate areas with BT strong in supplying fixed communications services (voice, broadband and pay TV), EE strong in supplying mobile communications services, and limited overlap between them in both categories of service. BT(including Openreach) also provides many fixed services to other communications providers, including backhaul services to mobile communications providers such as EE, O2, Three and Vodafone. These backhaul services connect radio masts to core networks.
The watchdog group concluded, “The evidence does not show that this merger is likely to cause significant harm to competition or the interests of consumers.”
BT Chief Executive, Gavin Patterson
The combined BT and EE will be a digital champion for the UK, providing high levels of investment and driving innovation in a highly competitive market. I have no doubt that consumers, businesses and communities will benefit as we combine the power of fibre broadband with the convenience of leading edge mobile services.
