BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Vodafone <VOD.L> secured on Thursday antitrust approval from the European Union for its $22 billion (17.63 billion pounds) bid to buy Liberty Global's <LBTYA.O> cable networks in Germany and central Europe after offering concessions in May.
The European Commission said in a statement that the approval was "conditional on full compliance with a commitments package offered by Vodafone."
Vodafone, the world's No. 2 mobile operator, is looking to the deal to help it better compete with German market leader Deutsche Telekom <DTEGn.DE>.
It offered to strengthen rival Telefonica Deutschland <O2Dn.DE> by giving it access to its merged high-speed broadband network after the European Commission said the deal may reduce competition in Germany and the Czech Republic.
Reuters reported on June 26 that the deal was set to go ahead.
(Reporting by Robin Emmott, editing by Alissa de Carbonnel)
