(Adds comment from Orange)
by Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS, July 27 (Reuters) – Orange ORAN.PA’s proposed acquisition of a majority stake in Belgian operator Voo will be the subject of an in-depth investigation by the European competition authority. from the preliminary assessment, we learned from a source familiar with the matter on Wednesday.
The planned takeover of 75% of Voo values the target at 1.8 billion euros. Announced last November, this operation illustrates Orange’s desire to offer “convergent offers” in terms of broadband and mobile telephony to its customers in all the European countries where it is present.
The European Commission’s preliminary assessment ends on Thursday. It will be followed by the opening of a four-month in-depth investigation because Orange has not granted the concessions demanded by the European executive to resolve the competition problems identified, said the same source.
Orange stated that “the opening of this phase is a new stage during which we will have the time and the opportunity to demonstrate to the Commission that this operation is beneficial for the sector and will make it possible to sustainably strengthen competition through the Belgium”.
The Commission declined to comment on the information.
The Orange/Voo deal would give the French operator control of the cable network in Wallonia and part of the Brussels region against Orange Belgium’s Belgian rival, the Telenet operator TNET.BR.
(Foo Yun Chee report, with the contribution of Mathieu Rosemain in Paris, French version Jean-Stéphane Brosse, edited by Jean-Michel Bélot and Jean Terzian)