Britain has put BT’s completed purchase of TalkTalk under an accelerated public-interest review, using merger powers usually reserved for deals that touch national security, media plurality or other interests reaching beyond ordinary competition law.
The government said the intervention was prompted by the risk that a disorderly collapse of TalkTalk could interrupt phone and broadband services used by households, hospitals, schools, emergency communications and medical alarms. TalkTalk had been seeking a buyer after a prolonged period of financial strain. BT agreed to acquire its consumer and wholesale businesses after other bidders failed to reach an agreement for the whole group.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy issued a public-interest intervention notice under section 42 of the Enterprise Act 2002. The Competition and Markets Authority must now examine both competition questions and the public-interest considerations identified by the government, then report by Oct. 19. Interested parties have until Oct. 9 to submit views.
The notice relies in part on the existing statutory ground of maintaining the ability to respond to a public-health emergency. It also invokes a proposed new ground covering continuity of telecommunications where disruption could affect public services, critical national infrastructure or vulnerable customers. The government said it would urgently lay an order before Parliament to add that consideration to the Act; the statute permits a minister to identify a consideration that, in her view, ought to be specified.
The intervention does not reverse the acquisition or amount to a finding that the transaction harms competition. It begins a compressed review in which the minister will decide what further action, if any, is required after receiving the CMA’s report.
Ofcom is separately monitoring the transfer of TalkTalk customers to BT. Regulators have told customers that service should continue as normal and that no immediate action is required.
