Nortel-NSN Merger Gets FTC Thumbs-Up

The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday signed off on Nokia Siemens Networks’ planned $650 million purchase of Nortel Networks’ (NT) wireless division.

The agency is one of the federal government’s antitrust hawks; it included the Nokia-Nortel deal on its list of mergers approved on Tuesday.

Still, there’s no guarantee that NSN will own Nortel’s wireless unit. A bankruptcy judge recently agreed to a July 24 auction where other companies – including, presumably, Nortel creditor MatlinPatterson – will be able to vie for the assets.