The European Commission has pushed back its deadline to make a decision on Orange’s planned acquisition of Jazztel in Spain.
The Commission updated its Website this week to show that it has restarted its investigation into the deal and will make a decision by 30 April.
It had previously set a deadline of 24 April, but suspended its probe for five days earlier this month pending receipt of further information from Orange. It lifted the suspension on Monday.
According to Reuters, Orange has complied with that request. An unnamed source told the newswire that the European Commission had as many as 60 questions for the telco.
Orange made a €13-per-share offer for Jazztel in September, valuing the fixed-line firm at €3.4 billion.
It intends to merge Jazztel with its existing Spanish mobile operations, creating a strong multi-play competitor to incumbent operator Telefonica in a market in which bundled services are gaining traction.
The agreement naturally attracted regulatory attention and in December the European Commission opened an in-depth investigation to ascertain its impact on competition.
"The Commission has concerns that the proposed transaction may lead to a significant loss of competitive pressure for fixed Internet access services and fixed-mobile multiple play offers," it said at the time.
Orange said that it stil l aimed to close the deal in the first half of 2015.
