22.6.2016   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 225/4

1.

On 14 June 2016 the Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1) by which the undertaking Vodafone Group plc (‘Vodafone’, United Kingdom) and Liberty Global Europe Holding BV, belonging to the Group of Liberty Global plc (‘Liberty Global’, United Kingdom), acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation, joint control of a newly created company constituting a joint venture in the Netherlands by way of transfer of shares.

2.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

—   for Vodafone: operation of mobile telecommunications networks and provision of mobile telecommunications services, such as mobile voice, messaging and data services. Most of Vodafone’s operating companies also provide fixed voice, fixed internet and/or cable and IPTV services. Within the EU, Vodafone is active in 12 Member States, including the Netherlands,

—   for Liberty Global: ownership and operation of cable networks offering TV, broadband internet and voice telephony services in 12 countries across Europe. Liberty Global is active in the Netherlands primarily through Ziggo, which owns and operates a cable network, provides digital and analogue cable voice-over-IP services and mobile telephony services, as a mobile virtual network operator. In addition, Ziggo owns equity interest in HBO Nederland Coöperatief UA, which supplies three HBO-branded pay-TV and related video-on-demand channels to Dutch customers. Ziggo currently holds the broadcasting rights for several sports events and distributes the sports channels Ziggo Sport Totaal and Ziggo Sport.

3.

On preliminary examination, the Commission finds that the notified transaction could fall within the scope of the Merger Regulation. However, the final decision on this point is reserved.

4.

The Commission invites interested third parties to submit their possible observations on the proposed operation to the Commission.

Observations must reach the Commission not later than 10 days following the date of this publication. Observations can be sent to the Commission by fax (+32 22964301), by email to COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu or by post, under reference number M.7978 — Liberty Global/Vodafone/Dutch JV, to the following address: