Hutchison wins EU approval for Orange Austria deal

The European Commission said it had been worried that the transaction would lead to higher prices and less competition but said Hutchison's commitments to sell radio spectrum and open up its network to new rivals had addressed its concerns.

The ruling on the deal, which was agreed by the parties a year ago, will be a relief to the telecoms sector, where operators had worried that regulators would frown on mergers reducing the number of competitors in national markets.

Analysts say four-player markets like Germany and Spain are ripe for consolidation that could help to offset falling sales and profits.

Completion of the Hutchison-Orange takeover is still conditional on a linked deal for Austrian incumbent Telekom Austria to buy budget mobile brand Yesss from Orange, which could be stopped by Austria's BWB competition authority.

A BWB spokesman said this week it would likely appeal against the Austrian cartel court's approval of the 390 million euro Yesss deal, which would delay completion for long enough for Telekom Austria to be able to walk away.

The BWB will decide whether to put in an official appeal by the beginning of next week.

Orange Austria and Hutchison 3G Austria welcomed the European Commission's decision on Wednesday, which comes after 10 months of wrangling with authorities in Brussels and Vienna.

"The combination of the two businesses will result in a stronger challenger in the Austrian

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