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EU antitrust regulators to scrutinize UK mobile payments joint venture

Tuesday 17 April 2012 11:18 CET | News

European Union antitrust regulators are planning to cast a closer look at the mobile payments joint venture formed in 2011 in the UK between Vodafone O2 and Everything Everywhere, the brand name for the partnership between France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom. The EU probe will examine whether the JV, which brings together the UK’s largest MNOs, infringes on EU competition rules.

Vodafone O2 and Everything Everywhere are currently seeking EU approval for their initiative, which is set to offer a service to enable customers to pay for goods, services and travel using contactless technology with one touch of their phone, or online via mobile or PC.

In response, the European Commission has extended the deadline to rule on the deal due to concerns that the three companies involved may block competitors from offering similar services to UK consumers by monopolizing on their current market share.

“We need to make sure that competing services can keep emerging on this market, so that incentives to innovate remain and customers get the best mobile commerce services at the best cost,” EU Competition Commission Joaquin Almunia has said in an e-mail statement, quoted by Yahoo UK.


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Keywords: EU, UK, mobile payments, regulators, antitrust, competition
Categories: Payments & Commerce
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Countries: World
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