the european union said monday that it has started an indepth probe into the proposed acquisition of uk satellite operator inmarsat by us rival viasat inc as it is concerned the deal might harm competition in the inflight connectivity market the european commissionthe eus executive armsaid both companies are close competitors in the nascent market for inflight broadband services to commercial airlines and that there are few alternative suppliers and high barriers to entry the commission said it is concerned that viasat may reduce competition in the european economic area and globally but that it plans to further investigate whether new players are likely to put sufficient competitive pressure on the merged entity in the near term the commission said it now has until june 29 to make a decision