International carrier Hutchison Whampoa, which operates the ‘3’ brand, has been given clearance by the European Commission to acquire Orange Austria. As a result Orange Austria, currently owned by Mid Europa Partners and France Telecom, will be 100 per cent owned by Hutchison 3G Austria.

The move comes after more than ten months of intense scrutiny of all aspects of the proposed merger by the EU and Austrian authorities, according to Hutchison 3G Austria CEO Jan Trionow.

“The combination of the two businesses will result in a stronger challenger in the Austrian market, able to take the fight to the two incumbent MNOs, for the benefit of Austrian consumers,” he said.

“With the resulting larger scale and efficiencies, the merged entity will now have the means to execute an early nationwide roll-out of LTE in Austria, ensuring that Austria remains at the forefront of competition and innovation in Europe.”

As part of the EU approval process, Hutchison committed to offer network access to new MVNOs in the Austrian market on “very competitive terms”, to contribute 2.6 GHz spectrum to complement the 800 MHz spectrum to be reserved by the Austrian telecommunications regulator for a new entrant MNO in the auction to take place next year and to offer national roaming, co-location and sites to the new MNO.