Vodafone’s merger with TPG Telecom blocked by Australian regulators

A planned $7.7 billion merger of Vodafone Group Plc’s struggling Australian business with TPG Telecom Ltd. was blocked by the regulator in a bungled announcement published early that sent stocks tumbling.

“The proposal would substantially lessen competition for mobile-phone services in an already concentrated market,” the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said in a statement on Wednesday. “TPG is Australia’s best — and probably the last — chance to gain a new cellular network operator,” Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Chairman Rod Sims said in the statement.

A protracted legal battle between the companies and the regulator now looms. TPG and Vodafone Hutchison Australia Pty Ltd, Vodafone’s unprofitable mobile-phone venture with CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd., said they’re still committed to a union and will challenge the ACCC’s decision in the Federal Court.