Decision Nº M/07/029 from Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, 2007-06-27

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Date: 27 June 2007
• Submitted Date: 01 June 2007
• Decision Number: M/07/029
• Parties: Clane Cable Systems,NTL Communications (Ireland) Limited
• Decision Date: 27 June 2007
• Court: Commissioner for Environmental Information

Merger Notification No. M/07/029 – ntl/Clane

DETERMINATION OF MERGER NOTIFICATION M/07/029 –

NTL/CLANE

Section 21 of the Competition Act 2002

Proposed acquisition of Clane Cable Systems Limited by ntl

Communications (Ireland) Limited

Dated 27/06/07

Introduction

1. On 1 June 2007, the Competition Aut hority, in accordance with Section

18(1)(b) of the Competition Act, 2002 (“the Act”), was notified on a

mandatory basis of the proposed acquisition of certain of the business

assets (princi pally the existing analogue network assets an d custom er

contracts) of Clane Cable Systems Limited (“Clane”) by ntl

Communications (Ireland) Limited (“ntl”).

2. As a result of the proposed transaction, ntl proposes to add Clane’s

retail customers to its business in areas not currently serviced by

either the ntl or Chorus networks.

3. The Authority advised ntl and the Minister for Enterprise, Trad e and

Employment that it considered the proposed transacti on to be a “media

merger” within the meaning of Section 23 of the Act.

4. The agreement notified to the Authority was concluded on 20 April

2007. The notification was made on 1 June 2007. Consequentl y, the

notification was not made “within one month after the conclusion of

the agreement”, as provided for by Secti on 18(1) of the Act, and was

thus made out of time.

5. However, ntl satisfied the Authority that its failure to notify on time

was not “knowingly and wilfully” authorised or permitted by the

person(s) in control of ntl. The Authority therefore concluded that

there was insufficient evi dence to seek a criminal penalty under

Section 18(9) of the Act.

The Undertakings Involved

6. ntl is a wholly-owned subsidiary

1

of UPC Broadband (Ireland) Limited

(“UPC”), a holding company that d oes not trade. UPC ’s ultimate parent

is Liberty Global Inc., an international broadband commun ications

provider of video, voice, and broadband Internet access servi ces, with

consolidated broadband operations in various countries, primarily in

Europe, Japan and Chile.

7. ntl is incorporated in the State and provides tel ecommunications

services in the State, in particular retail anal ogue and digital pay-TV

1

See Merger Determination M/05/024 – Proposed acquisition by UPC Ireland B.V of MS Irish

Cable Holdings B.V.