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Regulators end probe of big five EU telecoms firms over standards
A man walks past the logo of Deutsche Telekom AG that is reflected on glass at their headquarters, in this file photo taken in Bonn December 5, 2012.
Credit: Reuters/Ina Fassbender/Files
BRUSSELS |
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators said on Thursday they were closing a preliminary investigation into Europe's biggest telecoms firms over development of new technology standards for mobile services.
The European Commission, which acts as competition watchdog for the 27-country European Union, said it was satisfied that the operators had handed standardization work over to the GSMA mobile industry grouping and other sector-wide associations.
It had been worried that work by five major operators - Vodafone, France Telecom, Telecom Italia, Deutsche Telekom and Telefonica -risked shutting out competitors and harming consumers.
"The Commission welcomes this transfer, which allows more stakeholder participation. It is a positive step that reduces the risk of standard setting work affecting competition negatively," the Commission said in a statement.
(Rex Merrifield, Brussels newsroom)
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