SLOVAK Telecom's bid to take over Eurotel has run into complications. With the merger of the mobile phone and fixed-line companies requiring approval from both the European Commission and the Slovak Antitrust Office, Slovak Telecom's German owner, Deutsche Telekom, has asked the merger oversight bodies to use a simplified evaluation method.
However, the Slovak Antitrust Office objects to a simplified review process, the Hospodárske noviny daily wrote.
According to Miroslav Jurkovič, the organisation's spokesman, the Slovak Antitrust Office believes that a simplified evaluation would not properly assess potential competition risks as a result of the merger.
Slovak Telecom announced in September that it would increase its stake in EuroTel, one of two mobile operators in Slovakia, to 100 percent, with the purchase of a 49-percent stake from the telecommunications consortium, Atlantic West B.V.
