Cabcharge Limtied
(ASX:CAB) says the ACCC has moved to deny authorisation of a new taxi booking app on the grounds it would have a significant impact on competition.
Members of the taxi industry including Yellow Cabs, Silver Top Taxi Service and Cabcharge had initiated a joint venture that would launch the ihail Pty Ltd smartphone app.
The app would provide a single taxi booking platform and access to the closest available taxi in a customers area regardless of the network the driver belonged to.
The ACCC says the initial shareholders represent over half of all taxi’s in Australia and the ihail app could potentially achieve a dominant position from launch.
This could reduce competition between taxi networks and existing booking apps and shut out opportunities for Cabcharges competitors to provide non-cash payment services.
Cabcharge made a net profit of $46.79 million for the 2015 financial year.
