In a merger control proceeding the Bundeskartellamt has today cleared plans by Telekom Deutschland GmbH and EWE AG to jointly expand fibre-optic network connections reaching end customers in north-west Germany.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: “The parties have undertaken to make significant investments in the quick deployment of gigabit-ready networks. They have also agreed to observe certain competitive guidelines. In our assessment the cooperation in its current form will lead to considerable improvements on the telecommunications markets in the region concerned and also in rural areas.”

In December the parties’ commitments to build networks and maintain competition were already declared binding by the Bundeskartellamt as part of an antitrust proceeding (see Press Release of 5 December 2019). The creation of a joint legal entity as part of the cooperation of the parties was also subject to merger control. As the project will have positive effects on the competitive conditions in the markets affected due to the commitments undertaken by the parties, the merger control proceeding could now also be concluded with a clearance. The clearance decision is not yet legally binding.