Nokia's NAVTEQ acquisition draws probe from the EU
by Donald Melanson, posted Mar 28th 2008 at 4:23PM
It may have won approval from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and
NAVTEQ shareholders alike, but it looks like the EU's
European Commission needs a bit more time to think over Nokia's acquisition of the company, and it's now launched an "in-depth" probe into the matter. According to Reuters, the Commission said that the "proposed merger raises serious doubts with regards to ... competition concerns," although it was quick to add that the decision to open the inquiry does not prejudge the result of the probe. Among other things, the probe will apparently attempt to asses whether the purchase would affect the cost of maps for other companies providing navigation services on cellphones. If all of this has a familiar ring, it should, because it wasn't all that long ago that the EU launched a similar probe into TomTom's similar acquisition of map-maker Tele Atlas.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
LordObento @ Mar 28th 2008 5:28PM
Among other things, the probe will apparently attempt to asses whether whether the purchase would affect the cost of maps for other companies providing navigation services on cellphones.
LordObento @ Mar 28th 2008 5:29PM
Check your spelling of asses and delete one whether
SIC TR4NSIT @ Mar 28th 2008 7:06PM
Is anyone else starting to question if the EU is really doing anything good? We never hear what good they do, all they do is sue the shit out of random major companies. Then again.. i'm no expert on the subject.
smcmullin2001 @ Mar 29th 2008 8:19AM
Bureaucratic, lumbering and ineffective as it may be, the EU at least tries to address the issue of large companies screwing society that is you and me and all our friends who don't happen to hold directorships in the corporate sector. If suing Microsoft, probing Nokia and bringing telecommunications companies to bear for their shameless greed (roaming charges? What, because Vodafone Ireland and Vodafone UK aren't the same company? Mobile phone charges are too low? I think not) brings the issues into the public consciousness, then that is a good thing.
Marky @ Apr 22nd 2008 4:27PM
Hardly bureaucratic. The average city council in Europe has more full time civil servants blocking up the processes than the Commission. This is often a tabloid myth and the average competition enquiry usually takes 6 weeks compared with the former national enquiries which used to me months.
The reason it seems to irk American companies who want to merge and create larger ones is that the competition rules are much stronger in the EU than the US with monopolies more rarely allowed.
They tend to forget that 27 states acting as single one in trading legislation where previously there was 27 separate sets of laws.