Acquisition hungry telco Altice has been tripped up by the European Commission for how it went about implementing its takeover of telecommunications operator Portugal Telecom – alleging that the French firm jumped the gun before receiving official approval. The Commission’s Statement of Objections reeks of regrets that the takeover did not turn out how it expected, or that it ever allowed the deal to go through in the first place. The merger has not been a smooth ride, as the EC initially came to blows with the Portuguese Competition authority in 2015, which did not agree with how the Commission was handling the case, and there was an outstanding request by the authority to take it off the Commission’s hands.…