China clears sale of Motorola unit to NSN

Nokia Siemens Networks is set to complete its acquisition of Motorola’s network infrastructure business next week after China’s antitrust regulator approved the deal.

Zhang Zhiqiang, head of greater China at NSN, said that the Chinese ministry of commerce had given the deal its “unconditional approval”. The ministry could not be reached for comment. The long-delayed deal will fuel competition among the global leaders of the telecoms network infrastructure industry by bringing NSN closer to Huawei, which in turn is breathing down the neck of Ericsson, the world’s largest network gear vendor. The delay in approval and the impact on the transaction highlights the growing role Chinese regulators are playing in global deals, even when the deal is not focused on the domestic Chinese market.