(ANSA) - BRUXELLES - The European Commission has given the all-clear to Bit, Tele2 and Telia, three mobile telecommunication operators, to start a joint venture to provide mobile payment services to businesses and consumers in Lithuania. 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".

The three societies are all from Lithuania. Bit is controlled by the US firm Providence Equity, while Tele2 is part of the Tele2 Group, controlled by the Swedish investment company Kinnevik, and Telia is part of the Swedish Telia Company AB. (ANSA).