Telenet on Thursday announced it has signed two separate deals to sell off some of Base’s mobile customers in a bid to win European Commission approval for its planned takeover of the company.
The cable operator has entered into agreements with Flemish TV and radio station operator Medialaan, under the terms of which it will transfer control of customers of the JIM Mobile and Mobile Vikings in Belgium.
The agreements are conditional on it receiving competition authority approval for the €1.3 billion acquisition of mobile network operator Base it announced in April, Telenet said.
As it stands, JIM Mobile products are sold under a partnership agreement between Base and Medialaan, with Medialaan marketing the service and Base providing all other aspects of it. The new deal will see Base transfer the JIM Mobile customers to Medialaan over a two-year period, and Medialaan will become a full MVNO player on its network.
Similarly, Telenet plans to sell Base’s 50% stake in VikingCo, the company behind the Mobile Vikings brand in Belgium, to Medialaan. The TV operator also plans to acquire the other 50% of the company and turn it into a full MVNO; it is currently a light MVNO on the Base network.
"Both agreements create the platform for Medialaan to become a new, high-performance MVNO player," Telenet said, in a statement.
The deals were brokered "in the context of the European Commission’s ongoing investigation of the proposed acquisition of Base," Telenet admitted.
The commission last month announced it would conduct an in-depth investigation into the deal on the grounds that it could harm competition in the market. It has until March next year to make a decision.
Promoting MVNOs is a common remedy applied by the European Commission to M&A deals. Telenet and parent Liberty Global are doubtl ess hoping that in this case the commission will view MVNOs as providing an adequate level of competition in the market, unlike in Denmark, where it recently came down in favour of network-based competition, putting paid to Telenor and TeliaSonera’s merger plans.
