Vodafone and Liberty Global win EU approval for Dutch merger

Vodafone and Liberty Global have secured approval from Brussels for their plan to combine their Dutch businesses, clearing the way for the companies to create the Netherlands’ second-largest mobile and cable operator.

British telecoms group Vodafone agreed to sell its Dutch consumer fixed line business in exchange for being allowed to go ahead with the joint venture, in a sign of the tough line Brussels has adopted on tie-ups that it fears could harm competition in the telecoms market. The deal marks the first time Vodafone and Liberty will have united a part of their mobile and fixed-line telecoms empires, after on-off discussions over the past two years failed to result in a wider agreement to merge their operations. Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s competition chief, said that “the commitments offered by Vodafone [would] ensure that Dutch consumers will continue to enjoy competitive prices and good choice.”