VimpelCom and CK Hutchison Holdings have received preliminary bids for some of their assets from Swisscom, Iliad and Digicel Group, according to reports from Bloomberg
VimpelCom and CK Hutchison Holdings are seeking to win regulatory approval of a planned merger of their Italian wireless carriers.
The redundant wireless frequencies and about 5,000 towers would allow the winning bidder to create a new mobile-phone carrier in Italy, and potentially ease regulatory concerns about consumer choice and prices.
The preliminary bids, negotiated but not binding, were presented to EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
They declined to give additional details.
Sky, the UK-based pay-TV service, has decided not to proceed with negotiations, they added.
By lining up buyers, Hutchison's 3 Italia and VimpelCom's Wind Telecomunicazioni are trying to avoid a repeat of last month, when the EU blocked a UK deal also involving Hutchison.
Commissioner 
is said to be preparing formal objections to the €21.8 billion Italian deal, which would create the country's largest wireless provider by customers.
The Commission will provide feedback to Hutchison and VimpelCom on the bids in a few days, though it will not choose a bidder, the sources said.
The European Commission declined to comment. It separately said Hutchison and VimpelCom formally submitted concessions on the deal on June 6.
Representatives for VimpelCom, Hutchison, Fastweb, Denis O'Brien's Digicel and Sky also declined to comment.
A spokesman for French billionaire Xavier Niel’s Iliad had no immediate comment.
Scrutiny from Vestager has forced European telecom operators to reassess their plans to consolidate.
Without creating a new carrier, the Wind-3 Italia merger would reduce the number of mobile operators in Italy from four to three, the same number proposed in the blocked UK deal.
In March, the EU opened an in-depth probe into the Italy pact, citing concerns about potential price increases and reduced customer choice, similar to the reasons used in blocking the UK deal.
