Telecoms industry responds to the Public Consultation on the revision of the EU Merger Guidelines
The final Guidelines should send a credible signal that EU merger control is evolving towards a more pro-investment, competitiveness- and resilience-oriented framework.
Brussels, 26 June 2026 – Connect Europe, the voice of Europe’s leading connectivity providers, submitted a joint contribution with GSMA to the European Commission’s consultation on the revision of the EU Merger Guidelines.
At a time when Europe faces growing economic, technological and geopolitical pressures, merger control should support the wider objective of strengthening Europe’s competitiveness, resilience and long-term investment capacity – as outlined at the highest political level, from European Commission President von der Leyen to European Council President Costa. The revision of the Guidelines is therefore an important opportunity to ensure that merger assessment better reflects today’s technology and market realities, particularly in capital-intensive sectors such as telecommunications.
We welcome that the draft Guidelines take a constructive step by recognising that scale, investment, innovation and resilience can be pro-competitive. However, we expect the final text delivers a sufficiently transformative approach as to how mergers are effectively assessed.
In particular, further work is needed on the treatment of efficiencies, especially in terms of balance between theories of harm and theories of benefit. Long-term dynamic benefits linked to investment, innovation, quality, resilience and scale should be assessed through practical, realistic and appropriately adapted tools, rather than being subject to stricter evidentiary standards than alleged harms.
The final Guidelines should send a credible signal that EU merger control is evolving towards a more pro-investment, competitiveness- and resilience-oriented framework.
Our joint submission is made available at this link.
