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BRUSSELS, July 2 (Reuters) - The European Commission said onWednesday it had approved Vodafone's 7.2 billion euro($9.79 billion) acquisition of Spain's largest cable operatorOno without conditions.
Reuters, quoting people familiar with the matter, reportedlast week that Vodafone would gain unconditional EU approval forthe deal, which is part of a wave of consolidation in thetelecoms industry.
"The Commission ... concluded that the transaction would notsignificantly impede effective competition in Spain," theEuropean Union's antitrust watchdog said in a statement.
The deal is the British firm's third acquisition of aEuropean fixed-broadband asset in two years.
Telecoms providers say more mergers are necessary to offsetfalling revenue and to secure the funds to upgradeinfrastructure for fast-speed broadband.
Buying Ono will enable Vodafone to compete better withSpanish market leader Telefonica. Vodafone's 25 percentshare of the Spanish mobile market is expected to increase byalmost two percentage points after the deal.
Both companies provide fixed and mobile telecommunicationsservices in Spain.
But the European Commission said the two companies'activities were largely complementary. Ono's main business is infixed telecoms, whereas Vodafone is mainly active in mobiletelecoms.
The EU said Vodafone and ONO's activities overlapped in anumber of markets in the fixed and mobile telecommunicationsmarkets in Spain.
"However, the Commission found that the impact of thetransaction on these markets is likely to be limited as thecombined entity would continue to face significant competitionfrom other market players, such as the incumbent operatorTelefónica, and other operators such as Orange and Jazztel," itsaid.
It said the deal also created a number of vertical andconglomerate relationships in the fixed and mobiletelecommunication markets in Spain, particularly in providingbundled multiple play services.
However, the Commission said the merged company would not beable to shut out fixed or mobile operators from the markets formultiple play services, because there were alternative operatorsand because of rules on wholesale access for mobile and fixedservices.
Telefonica on Wednesday won EU antitrust clearance for its8.6-billion-euro takeover of KPN's German mobile arm, giving ita stronger position in Europe's largest phone market.
(Reporting by Adrian Croft; editing by Justyna Pawlak)
