The European Commission has approved Nokia's proposed €15.6 billion ($17.1 billion) acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent, helping to clear the way for the merger to close next year.
The Commission announced that it has investigated the deal and concluded that the acquisition would not raise competition concerns.
While a combined Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent would have a combined market share at or above 30% for specific types of equipment, there's not much overlap between product portfolios, the Commission found.
In addition, there will be a number of strong competitors remaining after a merger, the Commission said, singling out for mention Ericsson, Huawei, ZTE and Samsung. Samsung in particular is expected to take a more leading infrastructure role in pre-5G and 5G technologies.
The investigation also determined that the proposed merger would not make it harder for newcomers to enter the market, and would not significantly change the infrastructure market to make competition-limiting co-ordination between players easier.
In a statement, Nokia revealed that it has now secured antitrust approval from authorities in Brazil, Serbia, Albania, Canada, Colombia and Russia. The deadline for an antitrust investigation by US authorities has also expired.
The transaction has also been approved by the Alcatel-Lucent board, but still requires approval from Nokia shareholders. Subject to this approval and some other closing conditions, the deal is expected to close in the first half of next year.
Despite the Commission's findings, analysts expect that the deal could have a significant impact on the telecom infrastructure market. Nokia first made the offer in April following a negotiation period.