EU to decide by Feb. 10 on Big Telecoms advertising venture

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU competition enforcers will decide by Feb. 10 whether to allow Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica and Vodafone to set up an advertising joint venture to compete with Big Tech, a European Commission filing showed.

The telecoms operators sought approval from the EU antitrust watchdog on Jan. 6 for the joint venture, which would be their first attempt to take on Meta and Alphabet unit Google in the lucrative online advertising sector.

The Commission can approve the deal with or without remedies or it can open a four-month long investigation if it has serious concerns.

“The JV will offer a privacy-led, digital identification solution to support the digital marketing and advertising activities of brands and publishers,” the Commission said.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Barbara Lewis)