UPDATE 1-EU's Almunia doubts Hutchison's Orange Austria takeover

* EU doubts whether effective remedies can be found

* Wants rivals able to compete against merged UPS, TNT

(Adds details, comments about UPS, TNT)

By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS, Oct 2 (Reuters) - The EU's antitrust chiefquestioned on Tuesday whether Hutchison 3G could offerconcessions sufficient to ease his concerns about its 1.3billion euro ($1.68 billion) bid for France Telecom'sOrange Austria, raising the spectre of a veto.

The comments by Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almuniacame a week after the European Commission sent Hutchison a listof its concerns over the deal, which would eliminate a fourthtelecoms provider in Austria.

"We have recently adopted a statement of objections inrelation with this proposed merger. At this stage, the questionremains whether effective remedies will be found," Almunia saidin the text of a speech at a conference in Nicosia.

Hutchison has said it sees little room for more concessionson top of a proposal to offer network access to rivals at costprice.

Telekom Austria and Deutsche Telekom'sT-Mobile are the leading players in the Austrian market.

Almunia expressed doubts over the deal last month beforeforwarding the document to Hutchison 3G, Austria's third-largestmobile operator and a unit of Hutchison Whampoa, which iscontrolled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing.

Almunia also said it was important that delivery servicescompanies DHL and FedEx be able to competeagainst United Parcel Service if it combines with Dutchpeer TNT Express as planned. The Commission is nowexamining the 5.2-billion-euro takeover bid.

"These companies offer a service that has a broad impact onour economy, especially for cross-border trade, so it isimportant that customers continue to have access to theseservices at competitive conditions," he said in his speech.($1 = 0.7749 euros)

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee, editing by Robert-Jan Bartunek andCatherine Evans)

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Keywords: HUTCHISON ORANGEAUSTRIA/EU