Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Melita-Vodafone: What's in It For You? The MCA Thinks Mobile Prices Could Rise
Melita-Vodafone: What's in It For You? The MCA Thinks Mobile Prices Could Rise
Melita-Vodafone: What's in It For You? The MCA Thinks Mobile Prices Could Rise
The MCA
thinks mobile prices could rise
Publication info: MaltaToday ; San Gwann, Malta [San Gwann, Malta]27 July 2017.
FULL TEXT
Vodafone Malta is selling off to Melita: would a duopoly make consumers' lives better? The MCA thinks mobile
phone prices could rise, but we also asked Vodafone and Melita
Matthew Vella
27 July 2017, 7:54am
Print Version
The Malta Communications Authority has been clear about its position on the merger: its preliminary position is
that there are unpleasant risks when it comes to competition and consumer welfare, unless the competition
authority obtains guarantees that benefits will be won by clients.
Over the last two years, there have been a number of acquisitions affecting Melita and GO.
In July 2015, GO's majority shareholder Emirates International Telecommunications Malta (EITML) announced it
would dispose of its shareholding. In December 2015, Melita was sold by owners GMT Communications to Apax
Partners of France and Fortino Capital of Belgium. Six months later, Tunisie Telecom's subsidiary TTML acquired
65.4% of GO's share capital.
This wave of acquisitions did not dent the competition between the two players, and it is only the Melita-Vodafone
merger that has now given rise to what the MCA calls a new "mega-entity", because it brings two long-established
operators combining their resources to directly compete with GO.
Such a transaction would see the combination of two full-fledged mobile network operators, reducing the number
of such service providers. The Consumers Association has been the most virulent on the effects of the deal,
describing Malta's oligopolistic communications sector as one that charges high prices and offers "the same
shoddy service".
"Local consumers not only do not have a real choice but to add insult to injury have got to pay very high prices
when compared with the prices other consumers have to pay in other EU countries... the normal rate for a local
mobile phone call is 50c per minute while the new rate which will soon be enforced for roaming is 3c per minute,"
the CA's spokesperson, Benny Borg Bonello told the MCCAA in a letter of objection.
The CA also wants Vodafone clients to be granted the right to opt out of their contracts should the MCCAA
approve the deal, since ultimately their contracts would be taken on by Melita, which is retaining Vodafone as a
brand name.
Additionally, the merger will mean a convergence of a fixed network (Melita) and a mobile network (Vodafone) with
the general understanding that Vodafone will now become a player in the quad-play market.
The ensuing oligopoly, which already exists to a certain extent, would result in a "new duopolistic scenario in Malta
that may not be conducive to higher competition levels in the medium to long term," according to the MCA.
Whether the duopoly could give rise to an abusive market dominance remains to be seen, with the MCA saying it
should be subject to detailed studies. "Certainly, however, a Melita-Vodafone concentration would translate into
the elimination of an important competitive constraint that these two merging parties previously exerted upon
each other and separately on GO."
Impact on mobile telephone market
DETAILS
Location: Malta
e-ISSN: 16071832
Copyright: Copyright © MediaToday Co. Ltd. All rights reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media
Inc. (Syndigate.info).
LINKS