The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will oppose the $15 billion merger between mobile phone and internet data providers TPG and Vodafone Hutchison Australia.
TPG and Hutchison Australia's shares plummeted after the ACCC inadvertently published the news on its mergers register this afternoon before the market had closed.However, the decision was not a surprise given the dim view the competition regulator had of the deal when announcing it would investigate the it late last year.
At the time, the ACCC argued customers could end up"paying higher prices" for"less innovative" mobile and fixed broadband plans if the companies were allowed to merge.