The European Union approves the purchase of Nokia by Microsoft

What was perhaps the last major hurdle to close the purchase of Nokia by Microsoft has just been overcome. The regulatory authorities of the European Union have given the operation a go-ahead today and have announced it in a press release.

In the statement, the European Commission affirms that Microsoft's purchase of Nokia's devices and services division does not pose risks to competitionAccording to their assessment, the activities of the two companies in the sector do not overlap and do not pose a risk of expulsion for other actors.In particular, the Commission refers to the market for smartphones and mobile devices, where strong rivals such as Samsung or Apple are in a position to continue competing.

The Commission has also investigated the consequences of the unification of a mobile manufacturer and the company behind the software installed on them. In its conclusions, it states that Microsoft's market share is limited and that Redmond is unlikely to restrict third-party use of its mobile operating system. The same is true of some of its applications, such as Office or Skype, and its business software.

From the European Commission they do not believe that Microsoft adopts a strategy to restrict the use and access to its products And if they do, they consider that it is not It will seriously affect competition, as there is a wide variety of alternative applications and services to yours. They even claim that such a strategy could weaken the competitiveness of some of their own products, such as Skype.

Where the Commission is not so convinced is in the section on patents. The part of the agreement that involves the license of Nokia patents by Microsoft is left out of the evaluation, but from the Commission they assure that they will remain vigilant to avoid any type of abuse of a dominant position by the parties involved.

Apart from the latter, the European Union authorities have cleared the way for Nokia's devices and services division to become part of Microsoft. After receiving the go-ahead from the Finnish company's shareholders last month and from US authorities earlier this week, acquisition can be virtually closed

Via | ZDNet > Europa.eu In Xataka Windows | Microsoft buys Nokia