TOMTOM NV, Europe's biggest maker of car-navigation devices, will get unconditional approval from European Union regulators to buy map maker Tele Atlas NV, according to industry insiders.

The European Commission will clear the 2.9 billion-euro (US$4.5 billion) purchase on May 14, a week before the regulator's May 21 deadline to rule on the transaction, said the people, who requested anonymity because the decision isn't public.

The approval will come after Amsterdam-based TomTom had refused the regulator's request to sell rights to Tele Atlas's database to create more competition. Tele Atlas will give TomTom access to mobile-phone makers and car manufacturers as sales growth of portable navigation devices, its traditional product, are slowing.

Revenue stream

"TomTom needs an extra revenue stream and Tele Atlas will help it increase service income," said Wing-Yen Choi, an analyst at Theodoor Gilissen Bankiers NV in Amsterdam, who has a "buy" rating on the stock under review. "It guarantees growth on the longer term."

TomTom spokesman Taco Titulaer declined to comment. The company is having a "constructive dialogue" with the commission, he said yesterday. Jonathan Todd, a commission spokesman, didn't return telephone calls seeking comment from Bloomberg News.

Netherlands-based Tele Atlas is the world's second-biggest producer of digital maps. TomTom, which announced its first offer for the map maker in July, has said Tele Atlas will continue to deliver maps to rival navigation device makers.

The commission staff had said that it wanted TomTom to address worries that the pricing for maps might become prohibitive after the takeover.

The Dutch company promised in December that the relationship between Tele Atlas and its customers "will remain exactly the same."