The EU has approved Nokia’s $2.3 billion acquisition of Infenella

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The EU committee on Wednesday said it unconditionally approved Nokia’s $2.3 billion acquisition of US optical conductor and networking equipment manufacturer Infenella.

The committee said the acquisition was slower with combined market share in the supply of optical transport equipment, and did not raise concerns as it faced reliable competition.

Reuters already reported earlier this month that it was set up for unconditional approval of the deal, which Nokia announced last June.

The acquisition makes it the second largest vendor in the optical networking market with a 20% share, after Huawei, which benefits from the minimal presence of Chinese Western companies.

The acquisition will allow Nokia to sell more equipment to major high-tech companies such as Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft. These have invested billions of dollars in building new data centers to serve the artificial intelligence boom.

(Reporting by Bart Meijer and Foo Yun Chee, Editing by GV De Clercq)