By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS, April 25 (Reuters) - A senior European Commissionofficial suggested regulators would not be swayed by requestsfrom telecoms companies for more leniency in assessing mergers,saying there was no guarantee that bigger companies would resultin more investment.
Cecilio Madero, deputy director-general for antitrust at theEuropean Commission, told a conference on Thursday: "Franklyspeaking, we do not have evidence that operators will investmore if they reach a bigger size as long as markets will remainfragmented and along national borders."
Telecoms companies are struggling to find the resources topay for new infrastructure as demanded by the surge indata-heavy smartphones and tablets.
After four straight years of revenue declines and ferociouscompetition, they have been lobbying European Union regulatorsto look more kindly on mergers that would enable them to findfunds.
Operators such as Vodafone, France Telecom-ownedOrange and KPN have said companies need toscale up via mergers to meet the need for investment in networksand that regulators should be more flexible with deals.
Lobbying group the European Telecommunications NetworkOperators' Association (ETNO), which organised the conference,said the gloomy outlook in the sector in Europe, compared withupbeat prospects in Asia and North America, called for a changein EU competition policy.
"In reality, competition has shifted from the nationallevel, and indeed from European level, to the global arena,"ETNO head Luigi Gambardella told the conference.
But the EC's Madero said: "What we cannot do in any event isto give some companies a sort of blank check to consolidatewithin their national borders and increase prices for consumerson the basis of mere promises of further investments."
Vodafone (VOD)
