We'll admit it: so far, most conversations concerning the Microsoft-Yahoo deal and antitrust issues have related to the U.S. and Europe.  Still, two potential roadblocks were eliminated yesterday when the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the Canadian Competition Bureau signaled their intent not to oppose the partnership.

The development's official, and Microsoft and Yahoo are quite happy about it.  Representatives of both companies emailed WebProNews to say, "Microsoft and Yahoo! have been notified that Australian and Canadian authorities have separately concluded their reviews and have no objections to our proposed search agreement."

The joint statement then continued, "We continue to believe that this deal will create a true, competitive alternative in the marketplace that will benefit consumers, advertisers and publishers.  We remain hopeful that the agreement will close in early 2010."

Indeed, that target date's looking more likely now that the ACCC and the CCB have waved things through.  Their investigations may provide other antitrust organizations with a good starting point (or even an ending point), thereby helping to speed things along.

We'll see what the American and European authorities have to say, though, as their opinions still represent possible sticking points.

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