The Portuguese competition regulatory agency is investigating the possibility that the proposed merger of Zon Multimedia and Optimus, Sonaecom's mobile phone business, would create a duopoly in the country's pay television market. This information was relayed to Reuters by an official at the authority who declined to be identified.
According to the regulatory official, "We are analysing a series of anti-trust concerns raised by third parties. One of those is the possible duopoly in pay-TV."
The planned merger was announced last year and gained Zon stockholder approval ladt month. The move would set up the country's second largest telecommunications firm after Portugal Telecom. Portugal Telecom is also engaged in the pay-TV market of the country.
Several industry analysts say that the competition authority would eventually give the go ahead for the merger but warned that the review can take months to complete. This may result in companies missing targeted goals to complete the merger by September of this year.
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