EU General Court Judgment in Cases T-58/20 NetCologne v Commission, T-64/20 Deutsche Telekom v Commission and T-69/20 Tele Columbus v Commission

Wednesday 13th November 2024

EU General Court Judgment in Cases T-58/20 NetCologne v Commission, T-64/20 Deutsche Telekom v Commission and T-69/20 Tele Columbus v Commission

(Competition – Concentrations between undertakings – Telecommunications)

In October 2018, Vodafone Group PLC, a United Kingdom company operating in twelve Member States, including the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary and Romania and sixteen Länder in Germany, specialising in mobile telecommunications, television and internet services, announced to the European Commission its intention to acquire sole control of Liberty Global’s telecommunications activities in Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania.

Liberty Global PLC, established in the UK, offers television, broadband internet and mobile services in various Member States. It operates in Germany under the name Unitymedia GmbH, a company offering television and broadband Internet services and in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania under the name UPC.

In Germany, this transaction consisted of the acquisition of 100% of the shares of Unitymedia.

Having initially raised serious doubts as to the compatibility of this transaction with the internal market, the Commission finally approved it in July 2019 (see summary of Commission Decision C(2019) 5187 final of 18 July 2019 declaring the concentration by which Vodafone Group plc acquires certain assets of Liberty Global plc compatible with the internal market and the EEA Agreement (Case COMP/M.8864 – Vodafone/Certain Liberty Global Assets).

This clearance was granted on condition that Vodafone complied with its commitments to remedy the competition concerns identified by the Commission.

Three German companies – Deutsche Telekom AG, Tele Columbus AG and NetCologne Gesellschaft für Telekommunikation AG – applied to the General Court of the European Union to have the decision annulled.

Fearing Vodafone’s dominant position, in particular on the markets for the retail provision of television signal transmission services in Germany, they consider that the Commission committed manifest errors of assessment as to the competitive effects of the transaction in question.

Background Documents T-58/20

Background Documents T-64/20

Background Documents T-69/20

Mittwoch, 13. November 2024

EU-Gericht Urteile des Gerichts in den Rechtssachen 

T‑58/20 NetCologne / Kommission

T‑64/20 Deutsche Telekom / Kommission

T‑69/20 Tele Columbus / Kommission

Übernahme des Kabelgeschäfts von Liberty Global in Deutschland, Tschechien, Ungarn und Rumänien durch Vodafone

Mit Beschluss vom 18. Juli 2019 genehmigte die Kommission die geplante Übernahme des Kabelgeschäfts von Liberty Global in Deutschland, Tschechien, Ungarn und Rumänien durch Vodafone nach der EU‑Fusionskontrollverordnung. Sie knüpfte die Genehmigung jedoch an die vollständige Umsetzung eines von Vodafone vorgelegten Pakets von Verpflichtungszusagen (siehe auch Pressemitteilung der Kommission IP/19/4349).

NetCologne, die Deutsche Telekom sowie Tele Columbus haben diesen Kommissionsbeschluss vor dem Gericht der EU angefochten, das heute seine Urteile verkündet.

Weitere Informationen T-58/20

Weitere Informationen T-64/20

Weitere Informationen T-69/20