EU’s Breton urges rethink on cross-border telecoms mergers

BRUSSELS: EU industry chief Thierry Breton urged antitrust regulators on Monday to consider allowing more cross-border mergers in the European telecoms industry, backing calls by Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica and Telecom Italia.

EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager has been reluctant to allow telecoms providers acquire EU peers without hefty remedies, especially when deals reduce the number of players from four to three, underlining concerns about the market power of fewer but larger telecoms operators.