Europe Scrutinizes AT&T-BT; Deal

The European Commission said on Friday it had opened an in-depth probe into the proposed joint venture between AT&T; Corp. and British Telecommunications.

At the same time, it cleared a separate $48-billion merger between AT&T; and U.S. cable giant Tele-Communications Inc., saying their union would have little impact on competition in Europe.

The commission, the European Union’s antitrust body, said in a statement that it had several concerns about the $10-billion partnership between BT and AT&T;, including the possibility that it could create or strengthen a dominant position in some telecommunications sectors in Britain.

The commission has four months to decide whether to approve the deal.