The European Commission (EC) extended again the deadline for deciding on the proposed merger of TeliaSonera and Telenor in Denmark, which would reduce the country’s operators from four to three.

The operators last week (12 August) made undisclosed commitments to the commission, which triggered a 15 working day extension of the deadline to decide the case from 16 September to 7 October.

The commission is pushing the two operators to give more ground if they want to complete a merger about which it has expressed concerns.

This is not the first postponement of a deadline in the case. For instance, the previous deadline was 2 September, which was put back until 16 September. Now the deadline has been put back again.

Mobile World Live asked the EC what concessions it had been offered but the commission declined to comment. We also quizzed TeliaSonera but have yet to receive a response.

As well as reducing the number of network operators from four to three, the merger would reduce the number of operators offering wholesale service to MVNOs, the commission has argued.

The merger would also result in “a highly concentrated market structure with two large and symmetric operators at the retail and wholesale level”. TDC and TeliaSonera/Telenor would both be strong forces in the market, with 3 as a smaller rival.

Presumably, TeliaSonera and Telenor responded with an argument to address such concerns, which is now under consideration by the commission.

The commission was first notified about the proposed merger on 27 February this year and opened an in-depth investigation on 8 April.