Industry sources said last weekend that the South Korea-based Samsung is the latest company to table a bid for the ailing mobile phone vendor Nokia at 15 billion euros (US$18.9 billion).

Local Finnish media reported that Samsung is seeking the acquisition of Nokia at the price of 4 euros (US$5.04) per share, a premium of about 71 percent, with the total value higher than that of the Google-Motorola deal at US$12.5 billion. If the deal gets made, Samsung and Nokia will be integrated into a mobile magnate taking up to 50 percent of the global market.

The two companies responded with statements that they have no comments on rumors.

However, industrial experts said that it's?highly unlikely that Samsung will buy Nokia, as the deal can hardly get approved by the anti-monopoly watchdogs in relevant countries. At the same time, struggling Nokia is of slight value for the global market leader Samsung. In addition, Microsoft, who reckons on partner Nokia to promote its Windows Phone operating system, won't sit around watching Nokia being taken over by its major rival Samsung.

Driven by the speculation, Nokia's shares surged 6 percent. Previously the company's shares have had a 40 percent slump since the beginning of this year.

Earlier this month, there were also reports that Microsoft was planning to purchase Nokia at US$19 billion.