The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has sent a ‘Statement of Issues’ (SOI) to Celcom and Digi flagging the potential adverse impact of their proposed merger.
Celcom and Digi have been asked to provide feedback, details and proposed resolutions for the issues laid out in the SOI within the next 30 days. The merger of the units was agreed by their respective parent firms Axiata Group and Telenor Group in June 2021.
The SOI is part of an audit process commenced by MCMC in November 2021 to determine the impact of the merger on competition in the market. The process is not final and is aimed at granting the operators time to address concerns, but given the extent of the issues identified the completion of the merger is now likely to be delayed beyond the originally expected Q2 window.
As reported by TeleGeography, the regulator has called on the operators to address its concerns around the national retail market for mobile and low-speed fixed broadband and data services, as well as mobile voice and P2P messaging services. MCMC also raised issues around the national wholesale market for voice, messaging and mobile broadband, including network sharing arrangements.
