VODACOM’s restructured deal with Neotel was likely to pass muster with the competition authorities, the company said after the High Court in Pretoria set aside the Independent Communications Authority of SA’s (Icasa’s) approval of the transfer of four licences to the cellphone network operator.However, Vodacom’s rivals and the Competition Commission are yet to be furnished with the details of the restructured deal, which reportedly no longer required a change of control in the licences.The court said on Friday that Icasa had a duty to consider what the licence transfer would mean for competition in the sector.The proposed merger had met with fierce resistance from Vodacom’s competitors — MTN, Telkom and Cell C — which argued that it would give the company access to sought-after radio spectrum, enabling it to provide super-fast 4G data download.They said this would harm competition in the cellphone market irreparably and hurt consumers.The court case challenged one aspect of the merg...
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