Regulator sides with Germany's 1&1 in 5G rollout row with Vodafone

BERLIN (Reuters) - The German competition regulator said it sided with 1&1 on Friday in a spat over radio mast access between the upstart 5G provider and larger rival Vodafone, suspecting the British telecoms group of breaching antitrust law.

In a preliminary legal assessment, the German Cartel Office informed Vodafone and its spun-off radio mast business Vantage Towers that they are suspected of impeding 1&1 in its bid to become Germany's fourth mobile network operator.

Vodafone and 1&1 could not be reached for comment.

1&1 filed a complaint with the cartel office in February 2023, blaming the sluggish progress of its 5G rollout on Vantage Towers, which it said was hampering access to the around 20,000 antenna sites it manages in Germany. Parent company Vodafone remains its main lessee.

In an apparent rapprochement in August that year, 1&1 struck a deal with Vodafone to provide access, but the office saw "massive delays" in the implementation of that agreement.

Vodafone and Vantage Towers now have the opportunity to comment on the allegations, the regulator said.

"At the current stage we are considering using our powers as a competition authority to enforce the provision of the sites which have not yet been made available," cartel office president Andreas Mundt said.

(Reporting by Hakan Ersen in Frankfurt and Rachel More in Berlin; Editing by Ludwig Burger)