The European Commission opened a probe into an agreement between Spain's telecommunications company Telefonica SA (TEF) and Portuguese peer Portugal Telecom SGPS SA (PT) to ascertain whether they broke antitrust rules, it said Monday.

The investigation is aimed at understanding whether the two companies "have breached EU rules by agreeing not to compete with each other in their respective home markets," the commission, which has antitrust powers within the European Union, said in a statement.

The commission is investigating an agreement made by the two companies in 2010, as Telefonica acquired control of Brazilian mobile telephone company Vivo Participacoes SA (VIV), formerly a joint venture with Portugal Telecom.

-By Alessandro Torello, Dow Jones Newswires; +32 2 741 14 88; alessandro.torello@dowjones.com
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