The European Commission has given the green light to Nokia’s acquisition of telecoms equipment company Alcatel-Lucent for €15.6 billion ($16.6 billion).

The deal, agreed in April, aims to create a European telecommunications-equipment giant that would allow the companies to fend off rising Chinese rivals.

The EU’s executive Commission said Friday, July 24, that there was enough difference between the two firms to not raise major competition concerns.

It said while ZTE and Samsung had relatively small market shares comparatively speaking, their presence did not fully reflect the competitive importance of their offerings, hence their inclusion.

Strong competitors in Europe for the merged company include Ericsson (ERIC) and Huawei (002502.SZ), as well as ZTE Corp.

Samsung in particular is expected to play a “more significant role” in next-generation mobile telecoms equipment, particularly when 5G networks begin to go live around the early 2020s.

In an emailed statement, Nokia said it had also received antitrust clearances in Albania, Canada, Colombia and Russian Federation.

American authorities have already approved the deal, as have Nokia shareholders.

The other factor behind the EU’s decision was that Nokia was more powerful player in the European Economic Area, where Alcatel-Lucent is a small player, while Alcatel-Lucent was stronger in the North America, where Nokia’s activities are “rather limited”.