EU approves Google's $12.5-bn Motorola takeover

(BRUSSELS) - European Union regulators approved on Monday the $12.5 billion takeover of Motorola Mobility by Google, judging the move unlikely to impact on the market for smartphone operating systems.

"We have approved the acquisition of Motorola Mobility by Google because, upon careful examination, this transaction does not itself raise competition issues," said Joaquin Almunia, the EU's anti-trust commissioner.

An investigation centred on whether Google might make it harder for big-selling handset manufacturers such as Samsung or HTC to use the operating system Google developed, Android.

"It is unlikely that Google would restrict the use of Android solely to Motorola, a minor player in the European Economic Area (EEA)," the Commission concluded.

The Commission said that Google "already had many ways in which to incentivise customers to take up its services and that the acquisition of Motorola would not materially change this."

US antitrust regulators are still examining the deal.

Google welcomed the EU move and said it is "now just waiting for decisions from a few other jurisdictions before we can close this transaction."

"We're happy that today the European Commission approved our proposed acquisition of Motorola Mobility, which we announced in August," Google's deputy general counsel Don Harrison said in a blog post.

"This is an important milestone in the approval process and it moves us closer to closing the deal," Harrison said.

"As we outlined in August, the combination of Google and Motorola Mobility will help supercharge Android," he said. "It will also enhance competition and offer consumers faster innovation, greater choice and wonderful user experiences."