The Competition Tribunal unconditionally approved the merger between telecommunications giant MTN and Verizon South Africa on Thursday afternoon.

MTN has welcomed the Tribunal’s decision, with MD Tim Lowry commenting that all regulatory conditions for the merger had been met and that it hoped to conclude the acquisition of Vertizon SA soon.

Lowry said in a statement that MTN was, through this acquisition, as well as that of iTalk Cellular, for which it was given approval by the Tribunal on Tuesday, would enhance MTN’s value proposition, build capacity and broaden its reach.

The acquisition would bolster the scale and product offering of MTN’s existing South Africa-based Internet service provider, MTN Network Solutions, while strengthening its regional presence, he added.

MTN had earlier expressed confidence that the merger would not reduce or prevent competition in the markets in which the two companies operated.

This followed Allied Technologies’ (Altech’s) decision to withdraw its intervention in the merger on Wednesday.

Althech said MTN had given a number of general undertakings in respect of the way in which it proposed to conduct the Verizon business and that these have given Altech "satisfactory comfort" to address its competition law concerns.

MTN would acquire Verizon European Holdings' 69,38% stake in Verizon South Africa, which was involved in multiprotocol layer switching, retail business Internet connectivity, network security and information technology infrastructure services.

Altech initially opposed the merger between the two telecommunications companies owing to "substantial competition concerns". It was granted an intervention in November, after filing an application to intervene with the Competition Tribunal in October.

MTN noted the withdrawal by Altech of its intervention in the Competition Tribunal hearings and has agreed to a request by Altech that it would confirm in writing its intention to continue to treat MTN Network Solutions and Verizon South Africa on an equivalent basis to other industry players.

The merger hearing, which would have continued until January 14, would now be concluded much sooner.