Vodafone gets EU go-ahead

Vodafone has been given the green light to proceed with its proposed buyout of two wireless operators in eastern Europe, Romania’s MobiFon and Oskar Mobil of the Czech Republic. The European Union’s competition watchdog has cleared the way for the UK firm to buy 100% of Oskar and 79% of MobiFon from the current owner Telesystem International Wireless of Canada; Vodafone already has a 20.1% stake in the Romanian cellco. It is paying USD3.5 billion in cash and assuming around USD950 million in debt to acquire TIW’s Netherlands-based holding company ClearWave. Vodafone had over 154 million customers worldwide at the end of March.