CADE keeps decision on Oi Móvel's sale and approves changes to merger control agreement

On 9 March 2022, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) heard a request for clarification of the Tribunal's decision to clear the sale of Oi Móvel to the firms Tim, Claro, and Telefônica Brasil (owner of the brand Vivo). The CADE Tribunal amended the previously imposed merger control agreement, changing provisions on the monitoring trustee's profile and adding other measures.

The Brazilian association for telecommunications, Telcomp, and the firm Algar Telecom filed requests opposing to the decision. The majority of the Tribunal decided to uphold the requests' proposals on the monitoring trustee, a person CADE selects to oversee compliance with the agreement.

The rapporteur of the case, Commissioner Lenisa Prado, said the changes to the agreement will include a requirement that the monitoring trustee has wide experience in the sector of telecommunications in addition to technical and operational knowledge in the mobile telecommunication market.

Additionally, Commissioner Luiz Hoffmann and President Alexandre Cordeiro agreed to the rapporteur's proposal to impose unilateral measures. Finally, the Tribunal reached a unanimous decision as to incorporating unilateral measures in the merger control agreement.

Therefore, the agreement will condition the completion of the deal on the fulfilment of the imposed requirements, which include new pricing criteria for the public offering of national roaming access and for the provision of mobile telecommunication services through virtual networks – a technology that enables the reselling of network services without owning the underlying telecommunication infrastructure.

Access Case nº. 08700.000726/2021-08.