France Telecom faces EC opposition to Equant deal

France Telecom could be facing a four-month investigation into the takeover of Equant after the European Commission (EC) postponed a making a decision on the deal for a second time.

The EC had been due to rule on the whether to give the go-ahead on France Telecom's bid to take a controlling stake in Dutch network service provider Equant on 28 February. The one-month deadline was extended to 8 March, but has once again been pushed back to 21 March. Should the EC see potential problems in the deal, it could choose to take four months to examine potential competition issues. While both sides have been vague about the reasoning behind the deadline postponements, under EC rules a two-week long extension is given when the companies involved propose concessions to quell competition concerns. An extension may also be given if an EU member state requests that the transaction be referred back to the relevant country. It is thought that France Telecom is not proposing to slash assets to meet the EC's concerns, although it is disposed to making concessions.