The TPG Telecom Ltd (ASX: TPM) share price has been crushed in late trade on Wednesday after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) accidentally released its verdict on the proposed merger between it and Vodafone Hutchison Australia (ASX: HTA).
The TPG Telecom share price ended the day a sizeable 13.5% lower at $6.07 and Vodafone Hutchison Australia share price dropped a massive 28% to 11.5 cents.
What did the ACCC announce?
This afternoon the competition watchdog inadvertently revealed that it has decided to oppose the proposed merger between TPG Telecom and Vodafone Australia a day earlier than planned.
Its release explains: "This information was inadvertently published online on our mergers register briefly this afternoon. We intend to publish a further media release shortly."
What now?
At the time of writing the ACCC has still not published the full details of its decision, so it isn't possible to know what issues it had with the $15 billion merger.
But it isn't necessarily the end of the road for the merger as TPG Telecom and Vodafone Australia could still appeal the decision in court.
Telco sector rattled.
Many in the market believed that TPG Telecom's decision to cease the rollout of its mobile network would get the merger over the line, so this has certainly been a shock.
It is also being seen as a major negative for the telco sector as a whole. A TPG Telecom-Vodafone Australia merger was expected to make competition in the industry more rational and end the price war that has crippled margins.
In light of this, it won't come as surprise to learn that the Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) share price and the Vocus Group Ltd (ASX: VOC) share price also sank lower in late trade. Telstra's shares ended the day 2% lower and Vocus' shares dropped 3%.
We'll have more coverage when the ACCC releases its full statement.
