By Natalia Drozdiak in Brussels and Nick Kostov in Paris 

BRUSSELS--The European Union's antitrust regulator cleared the merger of the Italian telecom operations of Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd. and Russia's VimpelCom Ltd, confirming an earlier Wall Street Journal report.

"We needed a strong and effective remedy that fully addressed our concerns," EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said Thursday. "We can approve the deal because Hutchison and VimpelCom have offered a strong remedy that enables a new mobile network operator, Iliad, to enter the Italian market."

The EU in March opened a full investigation into the proposed merger of 3 Italia and Wind, citing concerns that the combination would lead to increased prices and reduced choice for Italian customers.

Since then, France's Iliad SA has agreed to acquire telecom infrastructure that the merging companies agreed to sell to secure regulatory approval, allowing the French company to create a fourth nationwide mobile network in Italy.

In a joint statement, Hutchison and VimpelCom welcomed the EU's announcement.

Maximo Ibarra, the current chief executive of VimpelCom's Wind Group, will be CEO of the combined company, according to a person close to the situation.

European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has taken a tough line against telecoms deals in the region, particularly in cases where they would reduce the number of mobile-telecom operators in a country.

The approval is a boon for Hutchison after its planned multibillion-dollar acquisition of British mobile operator O2 was blocked by the EU in May.

The U.K. deal was partly blocked because the merged entity would have had network sharing agreements with both EE and Vodafone Group PLC, granting the company access to both of the U.K.'s networks and to a full overview of its rivals' network plans. That is an issue that doesn't come into play in the Italy merger, experts have said.

--Manuela Mesco in Milan contributed to this article.

Write to Natalia Drozdiak at natalia.drozdiak@wsj.com and Nick Kostov at Nick.Kostov@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 01, 2016 07:20 ET (11:20 GMT)