December 20 (SeeNews) - Telecoms operator A1 Bulgaria said it has lodged an appeal against the decision of the Bulgarian antitrust regulator to allow the indirect acquisition of mobile tower and fibre-optic infrastructure assets of Bulgarian pay-TV and broadband services provider Bulsatcom by Dutch-based United Group, owner of Bulgarian telecoms operator Vivacom.
Cetin Bulgaria, the operator of Yettel's mobile network, also submitted an appeal this week against the decision of the Bulgarian Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) in the Bulsatcom/Slovenia Broadband enquiry, according to a notice published on the regulator's website on Wednesday.
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A1 Bulgaria disagrees with CPC's conclusion that the acquisition does not meet the revenue criteria for a competition review, the telecoms operator, part of Austria's A1, said in a press release on Monday. According to existing antitrust legislation, one of the preconditions for an antitrust enquiry is for the combined revenue of the parties to the deal to exceed 25 million levs ($14 million/12.8 million euro).
The appeal was filed after the Sofia administrative court last week halted the completion of the purchase of 167 infrastructure assets of Bulsatcom by United Group subsidiary Slovenia Broadband, A1 Bulgaria added.
A1 Bulgaria reiterated its earlier stance that two separate transactions for Bulsatcom from November 2022 ought to have been combined into a single enquiry since they involve a long-term change of control over Bulsatcom and the acquisition of significant assets.
Earlier this year, United Group dismissed as ungrounded similar concerns by the third telecoms operator, Yettel Bulgaria, which had also asked the CPC to combine into one investigation the sale of Bulsatcom assets to Slovenia Broadband with a procedure assessing the completed acquisition of Bulsatcom by Sofia-based investment company Viva Corporate Bulgaria.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)