Eu Regulators To Block Telefonica's Sale Of O2 Uk To Hutchison: Sources

[Ron Burgundy]

By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU competition regulators will veto CK Hutchison Holdings's 10.3 billion-pound ($14.9 billion) deal to buy O2 UK from Spanish group Telefonica to become Britain's biggest mobile network operator, two people familiar with the matter said on Monday. Hutchison, controlled by Asia's richest man Li Ka-shing, had always faced an uphill battle getting EU clearance for the deal because merging O2 with its own Three UK, would reduce the number of rival mobile network operators in Britain to three. It will be the first time that European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has expressly rejected such a deal, although Scandinavian groups Teliasonera and Telenor abandoned plans to merge their Danish mobile subsidiaries in September last year after Vestager said she wanted four network operators in that market.

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