Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said: “Today’s decision confirms that the structural remedies accepted by the Commission in order to clear the creation of Wind Tre in 2016 were effective. They have not only preserved but also incentivised competition in the mobile telecommunications market in Italy. It is important to ensure full implementation of those remedies so that Italian consumers can continue to enjoy high quality mobile services at fair prices.“

Commission 2016 decision clearing creation of Wind Tre

Wind Tre was created in 2016 from the combination of the activities of VimpelCom’s (now VEON) subsidiary WIND with those of Hutchison’s subsidiary H3G, respectively the third and fourth largest operators in the Italian retail mobile market.

In its in-depth review of the 2016 deal, the Commission assessed concerns that the creation of Wind Tre would have reduced competition in the Italian retail mobile market and hampered the ability to compete of mobile virtual network operators (mobile operators that use other operators’ network infrastructure to offer their services).

The Commission cleared the 2016 transaction because its concerns were fully addressed through effective structural remedies offered by Hutchison and VimpelCom. In particular, these remedies allowed the market entry of the French telecommunications operator Iliad as a new mobile network operator in Italy. The implementation of these remedies is still ongoing.

The Commission’s competition concerns and the proposed remedies

In July 2018, Hutchison agreed to acquire sole control over Wind Tre. The Commission has reviewed this new deal. It found that, other than the creation of Wind Tre and the entry of Iliad on the market, no significant change has occurred in the competitive landscape of the Italian mobile markets compared to that assessed in 2016. The Commission concluded that the new transaction does not alter the existing competitive situation resulting from the first transaction, and no additional competition concerns have been identified.

However, the 2016 conditions are still being implemented and the Commission concluded that, should this cease to be the case, the new transaction would raise the same concerns identified by the Commission in the 2016 clearance decision.

To address these concerns, Hutchison has offered to assume full responsibility for complying with the commitments submitted jointly with VimpelCom (now VEON) in 2016. This relates in particular to the completion of spectrum transfer and site divestment and to the implementation of the national roaming agreement until Iliad’s network is fully rolled out. VEON will be released from any further obligations as it will no longer have control over Wind Tre.

The proposed remedies are consistent with the Commission’s practice in previous cases and appear to be the most appropriate solution based on the results of the Commission’s investigation. The Commission concluded that the proposed transaction, as modified by the commitments, would no longer raise competition concerns. The decision is conditional upon full compliance with the commitments.

Companies and products

Hutchison is a multi-national conglomerate headquartered in Hong Kong, active in five core businesses: ports and related services, retail, infrastructure, energy and telecommunications. The telecommunications division includes interests in mobile and fixed operations in Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Wind Tre is a provider of fixed and mobile telecommunications services in Italy.

Merger control rules and procedures

The Commission has the duty to assess mergers and acquisitions involving companies with a turnover above certain thresholds (see Article 1 of the Merger Regulation) and to prevent concentrations that would significantly impede effective competition in the EEA or any substantial part of it.

The vast majority of notified mergers do not pose competition problems and are cleared after a routine review. From the moment a transaction is notified, the Commission generally has 25 working days to decide whether to grant approval (Phase I) or to start an in-depth investigation (Phase II).

More information will be available on the competition website, in the Commission’s public case register under the case number M.9041.

Good afternoon to each and every one of you,

I am happy to see you after this long working morning with Dominic Raab and his team.

This week we took stock of the discussions that our teams had, as we will do regularly.

What did we do this week?

First, we worked together on the framework of our future relationship, discussing in particular the important subject of the security of our citizens and the stability of our continent.

On internal security, we are ready to build an ambitious partnership with the United Kingdom, which will become a third country, as was its wish, outside of Schengen.

In keeping with the European Council guidelines, this partnership would consist of four pillars:

– the effective exchange of information;
– the support for law enforcement cooperation;
– judicial cooperation in criminal matters; and
– an ambitious partnership to combat money laundering and terrorism financing.

The UK’s White Paper contains, I would like to repeat, positive guarantees on the protection of fundamental rights and the recognition of the European Court of Justice as the ultimate arbiter of EU law.

But we need to now discuss how to translate these guarantees concretely.

Subject to full reciprocity and guarantees on procedural rights for suspects, we now have the elements to build a close and effective relationship between the European Union and the United Kingdom on several subjects which are very important for citizens:

– a framework for extradition mechanisms;
– reciprocal cooperation on airplane passenger data to better trace and identify the individuals involved in terrorist acts;
– the exchange of DNA data, fingerprints and vehicle data.

Together with Dominic, we also touched on foreign policy, external security and defence. There is a large convergence of views on the ambition of our future cooperation and on the necessary tools to put in place this cooperation.

Finally, in the security context, we also spoke about Galileo.

I would like to simply repeat that some months ago the European Union has already offered the United Kingdom close cooperation in this area.
I recall that Galileo’s civil and commercial signal will obviously still be accessible to the United Kingdom and its businesses.

Our offer also includes access to the PRS (Public Regulated Service) signal, on the basis of an agreement negotiated by the United Kingdom, as is the case today with other allies. I think here of the United States or Norway.

It is now for the United Kingdom to decide if it wants this close cooperation, which we hope.

Ladies and gentlemen,

On all of these future cooperation subjects – trade, cooperation in specific areas, internal security, foreign policy, external security and defence – our objective is to build an unprecedented partnership with the United Kingdom, as I have said many times, for a good couple of months now, and as I recalled the day before yesterday in Berlin.

Secondly, we worked this week on certain outstanding issues of the Withdrawal Agreement itself, which is a precondition for any future cooperation.

On geographical indications – 3000 geographical indications in the 28 countries of the Union – I expressed again my worry.

The EU’s position is clear: Brexit should not lead to a loss of existing intellectual property rights.

We must protect the entire stock of geographical indications.

This protection is an international obligation, and seeing as it is one of the separation subjects, it must be clarified in the Withdrawal Agreement. We will come back to this subject, whose solution must be in the Withdrawal Agreement.

Another separation subject: the protection of personal data which will have been transmitted to the United Kingdom before the end of the transition, for example by banks, insurance companies, or police forces. We are making real and good progress on this subject – a subject which is also important for citizens and the economy.

All the other separation subjects – Euratom, Union procedures, governance – will be part of new discussions over the coming weeks.

Finally, ladies and gentlemen, a reminder on Ireland and Northern Ireland.

We must have a detailed and legally operational backstop solution in the Withdrawal Agreement.

Prime Minister Theresa May has committed to this, as have all EU Member States and institutions – I think here of the Parliament.

It is urgent to work on the text of an operational backstop. For that, I asked Dominic and his team to provide us with the data necessary for the technical work which we need to do now on the nature, location and modality of the controls that will be necessary.

This backstop is critical to conclude the negotiations, because as I’ve already said, without a backstop, there is no agreement.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Our work continues and it is going to continue intensively. I will see you next week.

Dominic, the floor is yours.