THE EU Commission is reviewing the KPN/Telia proposal to take an initial 20 per cent stake in Telecom Eireann, for £183 million. The Department of Transport, Energy and Communications confirmed yesterday that it had submitted the deal for approval under EU merger rules on November 14th.
The Commission has one month to either give the go ahead or order more in depth examination of the proposal. The delay in notifying the Commission has previously been criticised by Telecom's competitors in Ireland.
A spokesman for the Minister, Mr Lowry, said there had already been numerous meetings and briefings with the Commission, prior to the formal submission of the deal.
Meanwhile, the Commission is expected to issue its findings tomorrow regarding a series of derogations Ireland is seeking on liberalising the telecommunications market.
It is expected that the Commission will give Ireland a two year extension, until 2000, on simple voice telephony - allowing Telecom to retain its monopoly on domestic telephone users. However in return it will have to open up the business sector, which could lead to Telecom's competitors establishing their own networks with organisations such as the ESB and RTE. They believe this will enable them to provide more competitive rates to business users.
