(Telecompaper) The European Commission is planning to grant exceptional start-up aid for a fourth new telecommunications provder in Europe, according to German magazine WirtschaftsWoche's website, wiwo.de. Wiwo said this is one of the requirements that European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia wants to impose to approve the merger of O2 with E-Plus. Almunia fears that having three similar sized mobile operators, namely Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, and now Telefonica/E-Plus, will curtail competition.