The Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) approved the merger of the divisions of Greek Cosmote Mobile Telecommunications and the technology retail chain Germanos in Bulgaria.

CPC evaluated Bulgaria’s telecommunications market and ruled out the two companies were not in the position of monopolists, Dnevnik newspaper reported.

As a result the merger could not produce negative effects on the Bulgarian market, CPC said.

Competition was effective enough to prevent price changes.

In addition state institutions and other telecommunications companies refrained from any objections concerning the deal, Dnevnik newspaper reported.

The merger of Cosmote and Germanos Telecom Skopje also received an approval from the Macedonian anti-monopoly institutions.

An approval is still expected from the institutions in Greece, Romania and Ukraine. Once it is received Cosmote would acquire 42 per cent of the Germanos capital, Dnevnik reported.