KUMUL Consolidated Holdings has been given the right to transfer all its shares in bmobile-Vodafone to Kumul Telikom Holdings Limited.
Independent Consumer and Competition Commission chief executive Paulus Ain said Kumul Consolidated Holdings (KCHL) asked the commission in November last year for the transfer to be made.
“The ICCC completed its assessment of KCHL’s application and granted clearance for KCHL to proceed with the proposed transfer after it concluded that the proposed share transfer will not, and will not be likely to, have the effect of substantially lessening competition in the market for the provision of retail mobile voice, SMS and internet services in PNG,” he said in a statement.
“The ICCC therefore has given this clearance for the proposed transfer of shares of KCHL in bmobile to KTH to proceed.”
KCHL had asked for the transfer of shares to complete its business restructure and bring all its subsidiaries – bmobile, DataCo and Telikom PNG – under the one roof of Kumul Telikom Holdings.
Ain said the move would only involve the transfer of shares and not assets.
“The restructure would result in Telikom, DataCo and bmobile becoming wholly owned subsidiaries of KTH, with KTH remaining a wholly owned subsidiary of KCHL,” Ain said.
The directors of KTH will be appointed by the National Executive Council.
He said ICCC had initially granted clearance to the parties in June 2017, but the parties were not able to complete the shares transfer within the required statutory time limit of 12 months.
A new application was therefore necessary.
In making its decision, ICCC said the transfer of shares will not:
- Cause prices to rise;
- remove or reduce the chances of consumers or customers choosing similar products;
- reduce or harm the growth, innovation and product differentiation of any company in the market;
- remove from the market a strong and reliable competitor or company; and
- Greatly increase or strengthen any vertical integration for any company in the market after the proposed merger.
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