* Competition regulators in Brussels seen taking a harderline Danish merger deal abandoned last month due to opposition
By Julia Fioretti
BRUSSELS, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Regulators should take a morefavourable view of consolidation in European telecoms markets,the CEOs of 10 European telecoms companies said on Tuesday,reflecting concerns that proposed deals still to be vetted inthe UK and Italy might fall foul of the competition authorities.
The European Commission has taken a harder line on mergersbetween mobile network operators since EU CompetitionCommissioner Margrethe Vestager took office last year,scuppering a Danish deal between TeliaSonera andTelenor last month.
The chief executives of 10 companies - Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica and TelecomItalia, KPN, TeliaSonera, Telenor, AustriaTelekom, Portugal Telecom and Belgianoperator Proximus - urged regulators to considerinvestment, innovation, efficiency and quality of service whenassessing mergers.
"Our sector is in need of building scale and markets need tofunction at optimal levels," the CEOs said in a statement aheadof a conference in Brussels. "We want to ensure more investmentand higher value for money for customers."
The call comes as Brussels is set to open an in-depthinvestigation into Three UK mobile network owner HutchisonWhampoa's 10.3 billion-pound ($15.7 billion) deal tobuy Telefonica's O2 UK and make the combine thecountry's biggest operator ahead of EE and Vodafone.
Meanwhile the UK competition regulator is vetting the $20billion deal for national fixed line network operator BT to acquire EE from Orange and Deutsche Telekom.
Telecoms companies have been on a buying spree over the pastthree years, with Vestager's predecessor in Brussels wavingthrough similar "four-to-three" consolidation deals in Austria,Germany and Ireland after concessions were made which were seenas conducive to fostering sufficient competition, particularly from so-called mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs).
But in the Danish case Vestager said she had concluded thereneeded to be a fourth actual network operator in that market tomaintain sufficient competition.
"I have no pros or cons when it comes to consolidation, I'mjust very much pro-competition because this is my job, this iswhat I do," Vestager told Reuters ast week.
A deal to join Hutchison and Vimpelcom's Italiansubsidiaries to cut the number of mobile network operators thereto three from four is expected to land on her desk next year.
The CEOs also called for lighter rules on giving networkaccess to market competitors, saying prices should only beregulated as an exception, in a plea to EU Commissioner GuentherOettinger who is currently reviewing the EU's telecoms rules.
"Commercial terms for network access should be the rule ...only in such a context can we deliver faster coverage for allEuropeans," they said.($1 = 0.6557 pounds) (Additional reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Greg Mahlich)
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