Brussels, 22/05/2000 (Agence Europe) - The Commission has authorised plans by the French company Alcatel to buy Canada's Newbridge Networks Corp, both of which are active in telecommunications equipment. In late February, Alcatel bid more than USD 6 billion for its Canadian competitor, which was undergoing financial problems. The purpose of the transaction is to consolidate Alcatel's range of products with Newbridge's ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) equipment, used to transport voice and data over very high-speed networks. The Commission's investigation revealed that the operation would only lead to an addition of market shares on the market for xDigital Subscriber Line equipment, used to provide broadband internet access to end customers over existing copper telephone lines. But the increase in market share is minimal and there are strong competitors on the market, including Cisco, Lucent Technologies, Nokia, Nortel and Copper Mountain.