Cisco Appeals European Commission’s Approval Over Microsoft-Skype Deal

Posted on Feb 16 2012 - 9:11am by Editorial Staff

Skype which earlier last year was bought up by Microsoft resulting in today the Networking giant Cisco Systems appealed to European regulators to again consider their approval over Microsoft’s $8.5 billion purchase of the Internet calling service Skype – the EU reportedly approved the deal without any conditions in October.

“Imagine how difficult it would be if you were limited to calling people who only use the same carrier or if your phone could only call certain brands and not others,” De Beer wrote. “Cisco wants to avoid this future for video communications,” and so has filed the appeal. Messagenet, a European IP calling service, joined Cisco in filing the appeal. Both had commented to the European Commission during initial hearings on the deal before it was approved.

Cisco through its blog post wants to see conditions place that would eventually prevent the Redmond based company from taking over all video communications with proprietary platforms that don’t play nice with other systems like Cisco.

In a statement released to All Things D, “The European Commission conducted a thorough investigation of the acquisition, in which Cisco actively participated, and approved the deal in a 36-page decision without any conditions. We’re confident the Commission’s decision will stand up on appeal.”

(Image Source: Cisco logo, Featured Image)

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