In case you thought Verizon Wireless and Alltel’s marriage underwent an outstanding little bit of scrutiny, you’ll soon be swearing that Vimpelcom and Wind Mobile are on some kind of global watch list. The Amsterdam-based Vimpelcom has taken a huge leap towards the completion of a $6 billion merger with Wind Telecom , the latter of which has around 117 million subscribers spread across Algeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, Pakistan, North Korea and Canada. If and when both link hands, the combined effort will likely be home to a staggering 173 million customers, creating the fifth largest mobile operator by subscriber count. Wind Mobile’s head honcho seems greater than enthused in regards to the news, and he’s hoping that the tie-up will allow prices to sink for almost everyone involved. Claiming feats similar to “more access to international cooperation for roaming and long distance services” and the power to make use of “more leverage and increased scale” to drive down prices, Anthony Lacavera isn’t showing any public signs of worry in terms of regulatory hurdles. In months past, the CRTC took issue with Globalive Wireless — operator of Wind Mobile — commencing in Canada, primarily due to company’s largest lender (Orascom) residing outside of the nice White North. As of now, things seem sailing right along, but you are able to bet this marriage won’t be formally recognized before a borderline-obnoxious amount of investigating goes down backstage.
[Thanks, Kelvin]
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