(May 8): Australia's competition regulator will oppose to the A$15 billion ($14.3 billion) merger between mobile phone and Internet data providers TPG and Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA).
Shares in TPG, which became Singapore's fourth mobile operator in 2016, and Hutchison Australia plummeted after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) accidentally published the news on its mergers register on Wednesday afternoon before the market closed.
In a delayed statement that came out after the market closed, ACCC said a TPG-Vodafone merger would “further concentrate an already very concentrated Australian telecommunications market”.
TPG is the supplier of mobile and data services and is the owner and operator of submarine cable running under the Pacific Ocean from Australia to Guam.
Along the way, TPG it has adopted a strategy of growth by acquisition and also expanded overseas.
VHA is primarily a mobile business operating its own network and sells it own retail plans.
