BRUSSELS, Oct. 3 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The European Commission has unconditionally approved Friday the purchase of the company by WhatsApp instant messaging company Facebook – a transaction valued at 19.000 million (15.040 million euros) -. considering that not raise competition
The Brussels research has consisted Facebook Messenger (the courier company Mark Zuckerberg) and WhatsApp are not close competitors and that consumers continue to have access after the operation, a wide range of other applications of the same type.
Although communication applications aimed at the public generally characterized by network effects, research has shown that the merged entity will continue to face sufficient competition.
“While Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp are two of the most popular applications, most people do not uses a unique communication application, but several, “has held the vice president of the Commission responsible for Competition Joaquin Almunia in a statement.
” We have examined this proposed acquisition very carefully and have concluded that not hamper competition in this dynamic and rapidly expanding market. Consumers continue to have access to a wide range of mobile applications to communicate with each other “, said Almunia.
At present, the platform of the social network Facebook has 1.300 million users around the . the world, 300 million of whom also use the Facebook Messenger application Meanwhile, WhatsApp has 600 million users, according to Brussels
The EU executive research addressed three issues.’s communication services for the public in general, social networking services and online advertising services
As for communication services, examination of Brussels has focused on applications for smartphones. as WhatsApp can not be installed on other devices. The Commission has found that Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp are not rivals and there are several nearby rival applications such as Line, Viber, iMessage, Telegram, WeChat and Google Hangouts.
In regard to social networking services, some opponents have argued that WhatsApp is already a rival social network Facebook. The EU executive has however found that the parties are, in any case, distant rivals in this field, taking into account in particular the much richer experience than Facebook offers. In addition, the net benefit in terms of new members of the social network will be limited as the user base of WhatsApp and largely coincides with that of Facebook.
While WhatsApp is not present in the domain of online advertising, the Commission has examined the extent to which the operation can strengthen Facebook’s position in this market. His conclusion is that the operation does not raise competition though Facebook advertising WhatsApp enter or collect data from their users because there will still be a sufficient number of competitors in the market and no data will be controlled by Facebook.
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