TELEFONICA AND O2 UNITE, WITH THE COMMISSION'S BLESSING.

• Position: Brief Article

The European Commission has given its seal of approval to the marriage between the Spanish telecoms group Telefonica and British mobile phone company O2. The takeover represents the biggest ever deal for a Spanish group outside of Spain, ahead of the Banco Santander's takeover of British Abbey National for a sum in the region of euro 13 billion.

This acquisition will allow Telefonica, the leading mobile telephone operator in Spain and Latin America, to grow in Europe and to "balance its investments geographically"

O2, the former mobile telephony branch of British telecoms incumbent BT, from which it separated in 2001, will keep its name and headquarters in the UK. With 15,000 employees and 24.6 million clients in the UK, Ireland and Germany, it was the subject of takeover rumours for several months before Telefonica made its bid. Deutsche Telekom, the world's leading mobile operator, admitted to having initiated "preliminary discussions" with Dutch communication...