CANBERRA, Australia: Australia’s competition regulator on Tuesday delayed for three months its decision on Google’s plan to buy fitness gadget maker Fitbit for $2.1 billion despite the European Union giving conditional approval to the deal.
The European Union regulators last week approved the deal after Google promised to restrict user data and ensure Android phones work with other wearable devices for at least 10 years.
But the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said it was not prepared to accept a similar court-enforceable undertaking from the Silicon Valley tech giant.
“We are not satisfied that a long-term behavioral undertaking of this type in such a complex and dynamic industry could be effectively monitored and enforced in Australia,” ACCC Chair Rod Sims said in a statement.
“The ACCC continues to have concerns that Google’s acquisition of Fitbit may result in Fitbit’s rivals, other than Apple, being squeezed out of the wearables market, as they are reliant on Google’s Android system and other Google services to make their devices work effectively,” he added.
The ACCC would continue its investigation and set March 25 as its decision date, he said.
Google said in a statement it was disappointed at the delay but would continue to engage with the ACCC to answer the regulators’ questions.
Sims said his concerns about the deal were aligned with those of the US Department of Justice than those of the European Union.
Australia wanted to see what the US decided before making its own decision, Sims said.
The EU decision was largely focused on Google’s use of data, he said.
“We at the ACCC and the D.o.J have a very different theory of harm,” Sims told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“We’re concerned that if Google gets hold of Fitbit, that could mean, just like you’ve got a bit of a duopoly with apps, you’d have a duopoly with wearables, which in our view would significantly reduce competition,” he added.
Human rights and consumer groups have called on authorities to block the deal over privacy and antitrust concerns.
Australian regulator delays decision on Google-Fitbit merger
https://arab.news/jwkpk
Australian regulator delays decision on Google-Fitbit merger
- EU regulators last week approved the deal after Google promised to restrict user data
- Human rights and consumer groups have called on authorities to block the deal over privacy and antitrust concerns
European gas prices soar almost 50% as Iran conflict halts Qatar LNG output
- Analysts warn prolonged disruption could push prices higher
- Some shipments of oil, LNG through Strait of Hormuz suspended
- Benchmark Asian LNG price up almost 39 percent
LONDON: Benchmark Dutch and British wholesale gas prices soared by almost 50 percent on Monday, after major liquefied natural gas exporter Qatar Energy said it had halted production due to attacks in the Middle East.
Qatar, soon to cement its role as the world’s second largest LNG exporter after the US, plays a major role in balancing both Asian and European markets’ demand of LNG.
Most tanker owners, oil majors and trading houses have suspended crude oil, fuel and liquefied natural gas shipments via the Strait of Hormuz, trade sources said, after Tehran warned ships against moving through the waterway.
Europe has increased imports of LNG over the past few years as it seeks to phase out Russian gas following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Around 20 percent of the world’s LNG transits through the Strait of Hormuz and a prolonged suspension or full closure would increase global competition for other sources of the gas, driving up prices internationally.
“Disruptions to LNG flows would reignite competition between Asia and Europe for available cargoes,” said Massimo Di Odoardo, vice president, gas and LNG research at Wood Mackenzie.
The Dutch front-month contract at the TTF hub, seen as a benchmark price for Europe, was up €14.56 at €46.52 per megawatt hour, or around $15.92/mmBtu, by 12:55 p.m. GMT, ICE data showed.
Prices were already some 25 percent higher earlier in the day but extended gains after QatarEnergy’s production halt.
Benchmark Asian LNG prices jumped almost 39 percent on Monday morning with the S&P Global Energy Japan-Korea-Marker, widely used as an Asian LNG benchmark, at $15.068 per million British thermal units, Platts data showed.
“If LNG/gas markets start to price in an extended period of losses to Qatari LNG supply, TTF could potentially spike to 80-100 euros/MWh ($28-35/mmBtu),” Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING, said. The British April contract was up 40.83 pence at 119.40 pence per therm, ICE data showed.
Europe is also relying on LNG imports to help fill its gas storage sites which have been depleted over the winter and are currently around 30 percent full, the latest data from Gas Infrastructure Europe showed. In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract was down €1.10 at €69.17 a tonne
