The Finnish telecommunications giant reversed course Wednesday and said it will move its 260-employee broadband division headquarters to a business park in southwest Santa Rosa. We are picking up right where we left off. Two months ago, Nokia canceled plans to move the core of its High Speed Access Products unit from Petaluma to Santa Rosa.
Any business is certainly welcome that is coming with jobs and a clean environmental record.
The Santa Rosa City Council approved the Nokia development Feb. 27. A week later, Nokia stunned developers and pulled out of the project, saying it was too costly at a time when sales of telecommunications equipment are slowing. Nokia stopped everything worldwide to make sure they were doing the right thing. As March drew to a close, Nokia tightened its belt another notch and announced plans to lay off 40 employees in Petaluma, part of a plan to cut 300 to 400 jobs worldwide from its broadband systems division. However, several events in April prompted Nokia to reconsider its decision to stay in Petaluma.