Commission authorises TeamTalk Telecom acquisition
Commission authorises TeamTalk to acquire Telecom's mobile radio business
Media Release 2000/43
The Commerce Commission today authorised TeamTalk Limited to acquire Telecom New Zealand Limited’s trunked mobile radio (TMR) business, which trades under the name "Fleetlink".
Commission Chair John Belgrave said
that the Commission was satisfied that public benefits from
the proposal outweigh its detriments to competition by
between $6.072 million and $11.301 million over five
years.
The Commission concluded that the main
benefit from the proposal would be the overall reduction in
costs.
The Commission considered possible
detriments from losses in efficiency, but concluded that
these were not as significant as the benefits.
A
business acquisition that would otherwise be prohibited by
the Commerce Act can still be authorised on public benefit
grounds.
"In this case, we are satisfied that
public benefits outweigh detriments to competition," Mr
Belgrave said.
Background
The Commerce Act prohibits
business acquisitions that result in dominance being
acquired or strengthened in any market.
Parties can
apply for a clearance, which will be granted if the
Commission is satisfied that dominance is not acquired or
strengthened. The Commission declined to clear TeamTalk’s
proposal to acquire the Fleetlink business on December 3
last year (Decision 377).
TeamTalk then applied for
an authorisation on February 21.
On March 24 the
Commission published its draft determination giving its
preliminary view that, on information then available, it
would authorise the proposal. Interested parties made
submissions on the draft determination and a public
conference was held on May 3.
The Commission has
drawn together information from its investigation, the
submissions and the conference to make its final
decision.
Media contact: Commerce Act Manager Geoff Thorn
Phone work (04) 498 0958, cellphone 021 661 104
Senior Advisor Communications Vincent
Cholewa
Phone work (04) 498 0920