European Commission Endorses Proposed Acquisition of Greece's OTE by Deutsche Telekom

"The Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it," the European Union executive said in a statement.

OTE provides fixed-line services in Greece and Romania and, through its subsidiary Cosmote, mobile telecommunications services in Bulgaria, Greece and Romania.

The Commission’s examination of the proposed transaction showed that, given the largely complementary scope of the networks of Deutsche Telekom and OTE, the limited horizontal overlaps in the markets for retail fixed telephony and wholesale leased lines in Romania would not raise any competition concerns, the statement said.

In May Deutsche Telekom bought a 20% stake in OTE and agreed to buy a further 3% stake from the Greek government, after which Greece and Deutsche Telekom will have stakes of 25% each.