The European Commission cleared a joint venture between Tele2, Telia and Bite to form a mobile payments service for the Lithuanian market.

The service will see the country’s three largest operators by connections – with a combined market share of more than 99 per cent – launch instant mobile payment services under the Mobilus Mokejimai brand.

In May, the JV was granted a licence to provide limited financial services from the Bank of Lithuania.

According to Telia, the new company will enable retail point of sale payments using mobile phones, in addition to person-to-person cash transfer.

In a statement clearing the launch, the EC merger authority said: “The Commission concluded that the transaction would raise no competition concerns given the minor overlap between the joint venture’s envisaged activities and the parents’ potential activities in the supply of mobile payment services.”

“Moreover, the Commission found that the joint venture’s parents would not have the ability, or incentive, to shut out rivals, in particular due to the presence of alternative means for competitors of the joint venture to securely store information and to authenticate users.”