Vodafone Hutchinson Australia (VHA) and TPG Telecom Limited have received the necessary approvals from the US authorities for their merger to ahead in mid-2020.

VHA CEO Iñaki Berroeta said that the merger preparations were continuing on schedule, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our teams are prioritising support for our customers through the impacts of COVID-19, but we remain focused on progressing the merger,” Berroeta said.

Earlier this week Vodafone closed eight of its retail stores in Sydney and redeployed workers from these stores to customer care lines.

The VHA-TPG Telecom merger received required clearance from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and consent from the United States Federal Communications Commission for the proposed change of control relating to TPG’s submarine cable between Sydney and Guam.