Australia’s competition watchdog laments the loss of a “once-in-a-generation chance” for mobile customers. Still, the Federal Court sees TPG rolling out its network as a lost cause and is in favour of establishing a viable competitor utilising a merger to take on Telstra and Optus even though it leads to higher market concentration.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) claim the public has dropped out following a Federal Court ruled in favour of a $15 billion merger between two of the nation’s major telcos today.
The watchdog compared the merger between TPG Telecom and Vodafone last May because it would disincentivise TPG’s competitive pricing strategy and the rolling out of its own mobile network.
However, Justice Middleton of the Federal Court concludes that the merger wouldn’t reduce competition, giving Vodafone the declaratory relief sought to ensure a strategy implementation deed for the merger can proceed.