CMA clears Cellnex’s acquisition of Arqiva

Matthew Bennett

Cellnex’s purchase of Arqiva was unconditionally cleared by the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on April 22, 2020, following a Phase 1 review. The parties are independent providers of telecommunication infrastructure, including towers, pylons and masts, across the UK.

A CRA team including Matthew Bennett, Vicki Mertzanidou, Uğur Akgün, Muath Masri and Mariam Arutyunyan provided economic advice and support to both parties, analysing local overlaps between the parties’ sites, bidding data and the constraint from key rivals including self-supply by mobile network operators. The CMA eventually concluded that “Cellnex is only a small player in this market at present and competition between the 2 companies has been limited.”

Further details are available on the CMA case page.