This highlights the improvement of the company’s relation with European antitrust authorities. Joaquin Almunia, EU competition commissioner, said that he would approve the proposed deal without any conditions despite the complaints from competitors that Microsoft might bundle the software with its Windows operating system.

The EU competition commission cleared Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype without the need for another investigation. This followed the United States Federal Trade Commission’s approval of the deal last June. The FTC stated that it was satisfied with the amount of competition from other online services such as Google Talk. There are reviews under way in Taiwan, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine.

Those opposing the Skype deal argued that the software giant would bundle the newly acquired software with its Windows platform. They wanted the commission to stop the deal just like what it did with the bundling of the internet browser and media player.

Microsoft maintained that Skype would improve the attraction of its existing products. It promised not to make Skype exclusive for its platforms and would make it available on other software platforms, such as Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.