While waiting for the European Commission to give way to a new chapter so that the merger between Orange and MásMóvil comes to fruition, one of the most interesting and necessary figures is that of the third leg: the operator that takes over the remedies of this operation.
There has been talk of Avatel or Finetwork as candidates. However, it seems that Digi is at the forefront in terms of possibilities, not only from a capacity point of view to undertake the operation, but also taking into account Europe’s preferences.
Digi is Europe’s favorite
At the end of last July, the European Commission indefinitely postponed the investigation of the merger with the aim of having more time to “evaluate the impact that the operation has on competition.” And this aspect is one of the points that has always worried Brussels.
What would be the new leader in mobile telephony and fiber for clients in Spain puts competition at risk, so Brussels is meticulously analyzing how this merger will affect the telecommunications market before giving the green light to the agreement. Meanwhile, the operators involved are trying to make moves to make things easier for Europe to give the green light to the agreement. One of them is to present a candidate to whom to sell the remedies, assets that the Commission forces to sell to the merged parties.
In this sense, according to El Confidencial Citing Bloomberg sources, Digi Communications has become the European Union’s favorite company to buy Orange and Másmóvil assets. The European Commission prefers the operator of Romanian origin to obtain the surplus assets of the agreement.
It is more than possible that Brussels will encourage asset sales, including some mobile spectrum licenses. It currently has Digi as the preferred benefactor, as it operates in Spain, but currently does not have mobile spectrum licenses, but rather its service is provided by Movistar.
The remedies of the Orange-MásMóvil merger
Digi has not hidden its cards and has been favorable to these assets being forced to sell. In fact, it is the main favorite after Finetwork’s withdrawal from the acquisition of the remedies that the European Commission will force Orange and MásMóvil to give up to authorize their merger.
Digi, on the other hand, confirms its strategy openly. “We are interested in the remedies” or “We want to be a winner of these remedies. We believe that Spain needs a telecommunications market with four strong mobile telephone operators”, are phrases that make the intentions clear and that we were able to hear a few days ago from the mouth of CEO Marius Varzaru in a interview with El Mundo.
Scope Ratings analyst Jacques de Greling also considers that, if the European Commission were to demand the existence of a fourth mobile operator in Spain, “most likely around the Spanish subsidiary of DIGI.” Therefore, Orange and MásMóvil should sell part of their network infrastructure to the Romanian operator.
