Etisalat/PPF Telecom Group merger (pending case)

The Hungarian and Slovak competition authorities unconditionally cleared the proposed acquisition of a controlling majority stake in PPF’s telecoms subsidiaries in Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia and Slovakia by Emirates Telecommunication Group Company (Etisalat, also known as e&). The transaction was also notified to the Bulgarian competition authority, which has not yet announced a decision. In addition, PPF said that it expects that the transaction will be reviewed under the new EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation.

Adobe/Figma merger UK (pending case)

Update: The UK competition authority provisionally concluded that Adobe’s proposed $20bn (€18.37bn) acquisition of rival software company Figma would harm competition in the global markets for product design software, vector editing software and raster editing software. The authority is consulting on its provisional findings until 19 December 2023, and its final decision is due by 25 February 2024.

Amazon/iRobot merger EU (pending case)

Update: The European Commission sent Amazon a statement of objections, setting out its competition concerns over the company’s proposed acquisition of iRobot, a supplier of robot vacuum cleaners. According to the Commission, Amazon could foreclose iRobot’s rivals after the transaction by preventing them from selling on its online marketplace or degrading their access to the marketplace. The Commission’s provisional deadline to decide on the case is 14 February 2024.

Italian regulator approves changes to Open Fiber’s wholesale prices for state-subsidised networks

The amended fees apply in so-called white NGA areas of Italy, where Open Fiber won contracts to build and operate state-subsidised NGA broadband networks as a concessionaire.

Deployment of NGA broadband access networks in Italy 2016

The European Commission approved under EU state aid rules a €4bn scheme to support the deployment of passive network infrastructure that allows the provision of at least 30/15 Mbps down-/upload broadband access services in underserved areas of the country. In some of these areas, the measure requires deploying more enhanced 100/50 Mbps networks.

Deployment of 1 Gbps broadband networks in Portugal 2023

The European Commission approved under EU state aid rules a €172m Portuguese scheme to support the deployment of high-performing broadband networks that offer down-/upload speeds of at least 1 Gbps/150 Mbps in underserved areas of the country.