Nokia's €15.6bn bid for Alcatel-Lucent closes in on European approval

Regulators to decide by 27 July

Nokia's proposed €15.6bn purchase of Alcatel-Lucent will get an official European regulator decision on 27 July.

The deal, which the firms settled on earlier this year, is part of Nokia's transformation plans, and it is estimated to be worth some €900m a year to the company in terms of cost savings and market growth.

Nokia chief executive Rajeev Suri (pictured) said that the deal is positive for both companies, and will unite Nokia's technology and skills with the famous Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs.

Michel Combes, chief executive of Alcatel-Lucent, is equally effusive. "A combination of Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent will offer a unique opportunity to create a European champion and global leader in ultra-broadband, IP networking and cloud applications," he said.

"This transaction comes at the right time to strengthen the European technology industry. We believe our customers will benefit from our improved innovation capability and incomparable R&D engine under the Bell Labs brand."

Reuters reported on the upcoming regulator decision, and the European Commission's competition pages make a brief mention of the provisional deadline for approval of the deal.

Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent sought local approval on 19 June, and the EC said that it will give its decision on the 'Wholesale of electronic and telecommunications equipment and parts' deal on 27 July.

These are telling times for Nokia, the once huge mobile phone company that sold part of its business to Microsoft in 2014 for £4.6bn, but the firm is apparently working towards a return to the market.

Suri said in an interview earlier this month that hardware manufacturing makes sense for Nokia, but suggested that the firm would operate in a way that does not compete with Microsoft directly.

"We will look for suitable partners. Microsoft makes mobile phones. We would simply design them and then make the brand name available to licence," he said.