A report in the online edition of WirtschaftsWoche said the EC plans to further scrutinise the deal struck with Telefonica over its acquisition of rival E-Plus in Germany – despite the commission having previously given the deal a green light.

The further inquiry concerns whether Telefonica’s agreement with Drillisch, an MVNO, is sufficient to deliver competition as the number of network operators in Germany falls from four to three.

Telefonica agreed to hand over one fifth of its network capacity and up to 600 shops to Drillisch, a move which should boost its presence in the country’s mobile market.

A subsequent report from Handelsblatt Online quoted Telefonica Deutschland as confident on completing the E-Plus in the third quarter.

Furthermore, a spokesman from the European Commission said it was checking on the concessions made by Telefonica but that this was standard part of the procedure.

He did not comment on how long that process would take but emphasised the current process was not a reopening of the case.