The European Commission has given the green light for Microsoft to proceed with its $US8.5 billion ($A8.76 billion) acquisition of Skype.
The EU executive branch found the deal would not affect competition across the European market which was understood to represent around 500 million customers.
It said in a statement despite Microsoft already being present in the video market with its Windows Live Messenger service, the existence of numerous other market players ensured competition.
"For enterprise communications, the investigation confirmed that Skype has a limited market presence for these products and does not compete directly with Microsoft's enterprise communication product Lync, which is used mostly by large enterprises," the European regulator added.
The approval is a positive step towards the deal being cemented, after Microsoft beat out rumoured players Google, Facebook and Cisco for the take over of the VoIP and online video service.
It follows the US Justice Department’s tick of approval on June 17 this year.
Microsoft’s vice president and general counsel Brad Smith said the company was pleased with the finding.
“This is an important milestone, as we’ve now received clearance from both the United States and the European Union,” he said. “We look forward to completing soon the final steps needed to close the acquisition, bringing together the employees of Microsoft and Skype, and creating new opportunities for people to communicate and collaborate around the world.”
The Skype service allows users to bypass the telephone network and make voice and video calls using their internet connection. It is expected that the service will soon be made available to users of Microsoft’s Windows phones.
Skype is not unaccustomed to takeovers, having been acquired by eBay in 2005, and later sold to investment group Silver Lake in 2009 for $2.83 billion.
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