According to reports from AP, European regulators have cleared the road for Nokia’s takeover of digital mapmaker Navteq, saying the deal would “be unlikely to shut off rivals’ access to digital maps”.
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| courtesy: www.blogs.wired.com |
US-based Navteq is one of only two international producers of digital maps. The other one is Tele Atlas NV, which was recently bought by navigation device producer TomTom.
The European Commission said there were “concerns that the strong position held by Nokia Corp. as a supplier of mobile phones might allow the combined company to block rivals’ access to maps they need to offer navigation services”, however qualifying the statement by adding, that Tele Atlas “offered enough competition to prevent that from happening”.
Nokia’s $US8 billion purchase of the company reflects its interest in using more navigation software in its mobile phones, said the report, adding that U.S. regulators approved the deal in December.
