The European Commission hascleared the £236mtakeoverof financially troubled Italian
communications service provider Tiscali's UK operations by Carphone
Warehouse's TalkTalk division.
The deal boosts the number of TalkTalk's residential broadband
subscribers to around 4.25 million - about a quarter of the UK
market.
The commission concluded that the transaction "would not
significantly impede effective competition" in the European
Economic Area, or any substantial part of it.
Carphone Warehouse is the UK's largest independent retailer of
mobile handsets and connections and a range of associated devices,
such as laptops. It has also increasingly moved into providing
communications services such as broadband and dial-up internet
access as well as fixed-line and mobile telecommunication
services.
Tiscali UK provides telecommunications and internet services,
supplying broadband and narrowband internet access services,
fixed-line telecommunication services and digital TV services to
business and domestic customers.
The commission said their activities overlapped horizontally in
supplying retail and wholesale internet access, as well as in
retail fixed-line telephony. It said the merged company would
become one of the main competitors to the incumbent operator BT,
but would also face competition from cable operators like Virgin
Media, and other mobile network operators.