The Belgian Competition Authority (BCA) announced yesterday that it would review the acquisition of independent ISP edpnet by Proximus under the rules prohibiting abusive conduct by dominant companies. The enterprise court of Ghent, Dendermonde section, sanctioned the EUR20.5 million (USD22 million) sale of the activities of edpnet to Proximus earlier this week, but this has not prevented the BCA from opening its inquiry. Although the deal does not meet the revenue thresholds for review under EU or national merger control rules, the regulator said it had opened the ex officio investigation ‘in view of the serious indications of substantial obstacles to competition that were brought to its attention’.
In its press release, the BCA explained its decision follows the Court of Justice of the European Union’s landmark judgement on 16 March in Case C-449/21, Towercast, in which it clarified that a concentration of undertakings which does not meet the mandatory ex ante merger control thresholds provided for under national law may be analysed by a competition authority of a Member State as constituting an abuse of a dominant position in the light of the structure of competition on a market with a national dimension. ‘The opening of an investigation does not prejudge its possible outcome and the company concerned will be fully involved in the procedure,’ it stated.