The European commission has given the green light to the proposed acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent by Nokia.
In a statement the Commission said the two were not close competitors and already faced string competition in the market by a series of global players.
“Nokia has a strong presence in the European Economic Area, where Alcatel-Lucent is a small player, and conversely Alcatel-Lucent has a strong presence in North America, where Nokia’s activities are rather limited,” it said in a statement.
The Commission noted that ZTE and Samsung both had small market shares that did not reflect the competitive importance of their product offer.
The €15.6 billion takeover, announced in April, would see Alcatel-Lucent own 33.5% of the combined company, while Nokia shareholders would own 66.5%. The combined company will be called Nokia Corporation, with headquarters in Finland and a strong presence in France.
Approval of the French government was initially sought for the deal with the promise of no job cuts in France, despite 900 million in savings being required by 2019.
