Dec 13 (Reuters) - Australia's competition regulator on Thursday expressed preliminary competition concerns about the proposed merger between TPG Telecom Ltd TPM.AX and Vodafone Group's VOD.L Australian business.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in a statement said that removing TPG as a new independent competitor with its own network "would be likely to result in a substantial lessening of competition".
"If TPG remains separate from Vodafone, it appears likely to need to continue to adopt an aggressive pricing strategy," said ACC chairman Rod Sims.
In August this year, TPG Telecom agreed to a merger with Vodafone Group's business Down Under, in a bid to ease competition in the cut-throat sector and buying scale to take on bigger rivals Telstra Corp Ltd TLS.AX and Optus. planned merger combines Australia's third- and fourth-largest telecom firms into a larger third player holding TPG's fibre network and Vodafone's mobile system.