Brussels, 25/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - The Commission has authorised the acquisition of the microelectronics division of France's Alcatel by STMicroelectronics. The Commission has assessed the impact of the operation on ADSL chipsets chipsets (which is a generic name for a group of digital communication protocols which allow high-speed data communication over twisted pair copper wires) and for ADSL chipsets. STMicroelectronics will become the market leader in Europe for ADSL chipsets. But it will face strong competition from rivals such as Globespan Viradata and Analog, both from the United States and electronic equipment makers. the operation has therefore been authorised.