Network equipment supplier Nokia Siemens have apparently delayed closing a deal with Motorola to purchase some $1.2 billion worth of Motorola asserts, and this is the 2nd delay to the deal within 3 months.

According to an article over on Bloomberg, due to the Chinese government not delivering on antitrust approval the Motorola, Nokia Siemens deal will not be completed during Q1. Apparently the Chinese Ministry of Commerce has lengthened their review time by a further sixty days.

Ben Roome, a spokesperson for Nokia Siemens has said that they require antitrust approval for each affected market, and confirmed that they received all other approvals by the end of last year.

A Washington DC, based partner with PRTM, Daniel Hays states…“China may be using Motorola as a leverage point in the continuing controversy over the access of Chinese communications equipment suppliers to the U.S.”

Last month Huawei said that comments that the Chinese network equipment manufacturer threatens the national security of the United States is unfounded.