UK regulator wants EU to hand over Hutchison, O2 case

By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS, Oct (HKSE: 3366-OL.HK - news) 2 (Reuters) - Britain's competition authority has asked EU antitrust regulators to let it examine Hutchison (HKSE: 0013-OL.HK - news) Whampoa's 10.25-billion-pound ($15.6 billion) bid for Telefonica (Amsterdam: TA6.AS - news) 's British mobile unit O2 because the deal would impact the UK most.

The European Commission has been reviewing the deal, which will reduce the number of mobile operators from four to three, since Sept. 11. That threshold has triggered regulatory alarm bells in past mergers in Denmark, Germany, Austria and Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) .

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it was better placed than the EU enforcer to scrutinise Hutchison's bid to create the biggest mobile operator in Britain by merging its Three UK unit with O2.

"It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) is appropriate for the case to be referred to the CMA for investigation because any impact on competition resulting from the merger will likely be limited to UK consumers," the UK agency said on its website.

It said this would also be more efficient as it is also investigating BT's $20 billion offer to buy mobile operator EE from Orange (Taiwan OTC: 4554.TWO - news) and Deutsche Telekom (Xetra: 555750 - news) .

Commission spokesman Ricardo Cardoso confirmed the CMA's request, saying the Commission will assess it. It has until Oct. 30 to do so. The EU regulator has rejected similar requests from national agencies in previous telecoms deals.

Hutchison is ready to sell network capacity and frequencies to fend off antitrust concerns, sources told Reuters last month.

($1 = 0.6580 pounds) (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Robert-Jan Bartunek and Elaine Hardcastle)