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Brussels, 05 March 2001

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The Commission has decided that the acquisition by Vodafone of , the leading Irish operator, controlled by the incumbent Irish company Eircom, is compatible with the common market. The transaction will result in Vodafone entering the Irish mobile telephony market, where it is currently not present. In Ireland, Eircell faces competition from Esat Digifone, which belongs to the BT group, and Meteor, which is about to launch its operations. In the United Kingdom (UK), where Vodafone competes with three mobile phone operators, Eircell is not present. As such the transaction will not give rise to any overlaps in the activities of the parties in these markets. The Commission concluded that the transaction would not strengthen the parties’ market position in either UK or Ireland. The Commission also assessed the impact of the transaction on the markets for wholesale services in Ireland and the UK. It was found that the acquisition would not lead to any competition concerns since it was found that there exists numerous market players which represent valid alternatives to Vodafone and Eircell as roaming partners for these services. Finally, the Commission examined the effect of the transaction on the market for the provision of pan-European mobile telephony services to large corporate customers. The transaction will add Eircell to the existing Vodafone group of European companies. It was, however, concluded that, given the relatively small size of the Irish market and Eircell’s customer base, the transaction would not significantly enhance Vodafone’s ability to offer pan-European services. In reaching this conclusion, the Commission took into account the commitments given by Vodafone pursuant to the Vodafone AirTouch/ Mannesmann merger decision. Under these commitments, the Vodafone companies, and thus after the acquisition Eircell, have to provide third parties non-discriminatory access to the services necessary to provide seamless pan-European services.