John Middleton to hear TPG-Vodafone appeal
John Middleton will preside over the landmark TPG-Vodafone appeal against rejection of their $15bn merger.
The president of the Australian Competition Tribunal, Justice John Middleton, will preside over the landmark TPG-Vodafone appeal against the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s rejection of their $15 billion merger.
Justice Middleton will hold a directions hearing in the matter in Melbourne next Monday, with a hearing due in November.
TPG and Vodafone are seeking a declaration the competition watchdog was wrong to block their proposed merger.
The decision was one of a string of ACCC rulings against Vodafone, which sees itself as a challenger in the Australian market against Telstra, which accounts for some 93 per cent of sector free cash flow and 80 per cent of earnings before interest, tax and depreciation.
The ACCC is also investigating complaints about alleged abuse of market power by Telstra by attempting to block the use of Vodafone SIM cards in the machine-to-machine “internet of things” market .
Australia’s chance to ride the DeepSeek wave
China has shown the world artificial intelligence can be done on the cheap, opening the door for Australia to catapult itself into a new digital Cold War.
More expensive for a reason: Telstra hits back in price wars
Rivals claim Telstra is ‘taxing’ Australians with expensive mobile phone plans. But Telstra has hit back, saying there is a reason why it charges so much to access its network.