Israel’s Finance Ministry has approved a NIS 737 million merger between Cellcom Israel Ltd and Golan Telecom that has been in the works since February.
The Competition Authority has yet to rule on the deal, however, according to a report published by the Globes business news site.
The deal has been in the works for more than five years; Israeli telecommunications company Cellcom signed a deal in 2015 to acquire competitor Golan Telecom for NIS 1.17 billion. The move would make Cellcom Israel’s biggest telecommunications company.
“After analyzing the expected consequences of a merger between Cellcom and Golan Telecom, including its effect on competition, on price levels, and on investment in the market, we found no concerns raised by the merger regarding damage that could justify objections to the application being brought before the various government agencies,” the Budgets Division of the Finance Ministry said Monday.
“This is because of the multiplicity and variety of players in the mobile telephony market, alongside the fact that most of the players compete with one another in other areas in which their competitive standing is different. We therefore do not believe that there is any substantial reason to oppose the merger between Cellcom and Golan Telecom.”