Nokia buys Alcatel to take on Ericsson in telecom equipment | Reuters Wed Apr 15, 2015 | 4:24 PM EDT Nokia buys Alcatel to take on Ericsson in telecom equipment By Jussi Rosendahl and Leila Abboud | HELSINKI/PARIS HELSINKI/PARIS Nokia is to buy Alcatel-Lucent in an all-share deal that values its smaller French rival at 15.6 billion euros ($16.6 billion), building up its telecom equipment business to compete with market leader Ericsson. The deal will redefine a sector suffering weak growth prospects and pressure from low-cost Chinese players Huawei and ZTE. With about 114,000 employees and sales of around 26 billion euros, the combined company will rank a strong second in mobile equipment, with global market share of 35 percent, behind Ericsson at 40 percent and ahead of Huawei's 20 percent, according to Bernstein Research. The new Nokia will have stronger exposure to the important North American market, with major AT&T and Verizon contracts.

It will also fill gaps in its product portfolio with Alcatel-Lucent's technology in optical transmission and Internet routers, which help telecom operators handle the ever-increasing volume of data brought on by users surfing the web on their smartphones and watching Netflix at home. While Huawei does have a complete product line across both fixed and mobile, Ericsson does not and may have to react with deal-making or partnerships, executives said. Nokia will give Alcatel-Lucent shareholders 0.55 shares in the combined company for each of their old shares, putting 33.5 percent of the entity in Alcatel shareholders' hands if the tender offer is fully taken up. The deal will be finalised in the first half of 2016 and is expected to result in 900 million euros of operating cost savings by the end of 2019, the companies said on Wednesday. Nokia shares fell 1.5 percent, adding to Tuesday's 3.6 percent fall, while Alcatel-Lucent fell 15.5 percent, giving up most of the gains it made on Tuesday when the talks were first acknowledged by the companies.

Nokia initially approached Alcatel-Lucent about buying only the wireless business but was rebuffed, leading to the broader deal, Alcatel boss Michel Combes told Reuters in an interview. The deal carries significant risks, however. The track record of mergers in the sector - including the two that gave birth to Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent a decade ago - has been poor. Prior deals were plagued by the difficulty of cutting costs in an R&D intensive business, rivals stealing contracts while the companies were distracted by their integrations, and struggles over power within the married firms. Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri sought to reassure. "This is not a joint venture, so there will be no governance issues," he said on a call with investors. "We will take a no politics, no nonsense approach to running the business, and have learned from past mistakes." FRENCH JOBS PLEDGE Nokia pledged to keep France as "a vibrant center of the combined company" and not to cut jobs beyond what Alcatel had already planned, especially protecting research and development sites at Villarceaux and Lannion.

Economy Minister Emanuel Macron said in a statement late on Wednesday that the overall jobs pledge would hold for two years after the deal closes. He and Alcatel's Combes also announced an extra 500 research jobs in France, adding to the existing 2,000. Alcatel has 6,000 employees in France. France made maintaining jobs a condition for its backing the deal, raising concerns over job cuts in Finland where Nokia employs about 6,900. "At first the deal sounded like very good news. But given that there will likely be job cuts, and the fact that it is much more expensive to lay off people in France than in Finland, the outlook is not that bright anymore," the head of the Finnish engineers' union, Pertti Porokari, said. "I truly hope that Finnish politicians would also show some patriotism here." The Finnish government did not demand that jobs be protected but underlined the Nordic country's know-how in technology. Nokia sold its once-dominant mobile handset business to Microsoft last year after struggling to compete with smartphones by Apple and Samsung. That deal left it with the network unit, a smaller map unit and a portfolio of technology patents.

Nokia said its growth profile would be improved by the deal and predicted a sales growth rate of about 3.5 percent for 2014 to 2019. Nevertheless some investors remained concerned. "The integration will be a difficult task, it will easily take a year or two, and the management group must focus on it heavily. For an investor seeking returns this year, it is clear that Nokia looks less interesting after this move," said Juha Varis, a fund manager at Danske Capital whose fund owned 0.06 percent of Nokia shares as of end-March. He also said that leaving France out of the cost-cutting program must have a negative impact on the corporate culture. Other analysts, however, said that Nokia and CEO Suri had a good record on restructuring. "There is no reason to doubt that this deal too wouldn't increase shareholder value... We know that there are risks related to France and the cost cuts, but I believe that Nokia has calculated a margin of safety to the deal price," Nordnet brokerage strategist, Jukka Oksaharju, said. Separately, Nokia confirmed it was exploring the sale of its HERE mapping unit, which some analysts value at up to 6.9 billion euros.

It also said further asset sales could be undertaken once the deal was completed. JPMorgan advised Nokia on the takeover, and boutique investment bank Zaoui & Co. advised Alcatel-Lucent. (Editing by Louise Ireland) ADVERTISEMENT 1/3 From L: Nokia's chairman Risto Siilasmaa, Nokia's President and Chief Executive Rajeev Suri, Telecom equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent's Chief Executive Officer Michel Combes and Alcatel-Lucent's chairman of the supervisory board Philippe Camus pose before a news conference in Paris April 15, 2015. Reuters/Charles Platiau + 2/3 Michel Combes (R), Telecom equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent Chief Executive Officer, poses with Nokia's President and Chief Executive Rajeev Suri (L) after a news conference in Paris April 15, 2015. Reuters/Charles Platiau + 3/3 The logo of Alcatel-Lucent is pictured at the company headquarters in Boulogne-Billancourt near Paris April 14, 2015.

Reuters/Gonzalo Fuentes + Nokia to buy Alcatel-Lucent for $16.6B, eyeing global market - CNET Nokia to buy Alcatel-Lucent for $16.6B, eyeing global market Nokia to buy Alcatel-Lucent for $16.6B, eyeing global market Nokia is looking to become a "global leader" in technology with the purchase of French company Alcatel-Lucent in a deal worth $16.6 billion. Up Next Death to Apple's Mac Mini: I made a Hackintosh Photo by Roger Cheng/CNET After increasing speculation on a possible buyout , Finnish communications and IT giant Nokia has confirmed that it has finalised a deal to buy Alcatel-Lucent in a share deal worth 15.6 billion Euros ($16.6 billion). If shareholders offer their tick of approval, the deal is set to be finalised by the first half of 2016.

Under the "memorandum of understanding," Nokia and the French-based telecommunications company Alcatel-Lucent are expecting to realise millions in "operating cost synergies" from reduced overheads, "organizational streamlining [and] rationalisation of overlapping products." The combined company is expected to have its headquarters in Finland, though the business will maintain major R&D centres in France. Nokia has also used the occasion to announce that it is considering the sale of its Here mapping business, with the Finnish company conducting "a review of strategic options" for the business, which "may or may not" lead to a sale. Both Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent are looking towards an increased global presence under today's deal, with a focus on the US and Chinese markets and growth in Europe. Nokia President and CEO Rajeev Suri described the arrangement as "the right deal, with the right logic, at the right time." "Our innovation capability will be extraordinary, bringing together the R&D engine of Nokia with that of Alcatel-Lucent and its iconic Bell Labs," Suri said.

"We will continue to combine this strength with the highly efficient, lean operations needed to compete on a global scale." Similarly, Alcatel-Lucent CEO Michel Combes said the deal would bring the financial strength and critical scale" need to become a "global leader" in technology. "This transaction comes at the right time to strengthen the European technology industry," he said. "We believe our customers will benefit from our improved innovation capability and incomparable R&D engine under the Bell Labs brand. The global scale and footprint of the new company will reinforce its presence in the United States and China." Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent were forced to respond to increased speculation about the deal as recently as yesterday, releasing a joint statement saying "there can be no certainty at this stage that these discussions will result in any agreement or transaction." Both Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent declined to comment further following the acquisition news. Now the two companies, which have long been household names in the mobile phone space, have embarked on a new path towards becoming a joint company targeting a future in fixed and mobile broadband, cloud services and the enterprise market. Updated April 16 at 10:15 a.m. AEST: Included details on further comment from Nokia.

Nokia Corporation - Company Profile, Information, Business Description, History, Background Information on Nokia Corporation Nokia Corporation - Company Profile, Information, Business Description, History, Background Information on Nokia Corporation Keilalahdentie 4 Finland Company Perspectives By connecting people, we help fulfill a fundamental human need for social connections and contact. Nokia builds bridges between people--both when they are far apart and face-to-face--and also bridges the gap between people and the information they need. History of Nokia Corporation Nokia Corporation is the world's largest manufacturer of mobile phones, serving customers in 130 countries. Nokia is divided into four business groups: Mobile Phones, Multimedia, Enterprise Solutions, and Networks. The Mobile Phones group markets wireless voice and data products in consumer and corporate markets. The Multimedia segment sells mobile gaming devices, home satellite systems, and cable television set-top boxes. The Enterprise Solutions group develops wireless systems for use in the corporate sector. Wireless switching and transmission equipment is sold through the company's Networks division. Nokia operates 15 manufacturing facilities in nine countries and maintains research and development facilities in 12 countries.

19th-Century Origins Originally a manufacturer of pulp and paper, Nokia was founded as Nokia Company in 1865 in a small town of the same name in central Finland. Nokia was a pioneer in the industry and introduced many new production methods to a country with only one major natural resource, its vast forests. As the industry became increasingly energy-intensive, the company even constructed its own power plants. But for many years, Nokia remained an important yet static firm in a relatively forgotten corner of northern Europe. Nokia shares were first listed on the Helsinki exchange in 1915. The first major changes in Nokia occurred several years after World War II. Despite its proximity to the Soviet Union, Finland has always remained economically connected with Scandinavian and other Western countries, and as Finnish trade expanded Nokia became a leading exporter. During the early 1960s Nokia began to diversify in an attempt to transform the company into a regional conglomerate with interests beyond Finnish borders. Unable to initiate strong internal growth, Nokia turned its attention to acquisitions.

The government, however, hoping to rationalize two underperforming basic industries, favored Nokia's expansion within the country and encouraged its eventual merger with Finnish Rubber Works, which was founded in 1898, and Finnish Cable Works, which was formed in 1912, to form Nokia Corporation. When the amalgamation was completed in 1966, Nokia was involved in several new industries, including integrated cable operations, electronics, tires, and rubber footwear, and had made its first public share offering. In 1967 Nokia set up a division to develop design and manufacturing capabilities in data processing, industrial automation, and communications systems. The division was later expanded and made into several divisions, which then concentrated on developing information systems, including personal computers and workstations, digital communications systems, and mobile phones. Nokia also gained a strong position in modems and automatic banking systems in Scandinavia. Oil Crisis, Corporate Changes: 1970s Nokia continued to operate in a stable but parochial manner until 1973, when it was affected in a unique way by the oil crisis.

Years of political accommodation between Finland and the Soviet Union ensured Finnish neutrality in exchange for lucrative trade agreements with the Soviets, mainly Finnish lumber products and machinery in exchange for Soviet oil. By agreement, this trade was kept strictly in balance. But when world oil prices began to rise, the market price for Soviet oil rose with it. Balanced trade began to mean greatly reduced purchasing power for Finnish companies such as Nokia. Although the effects were not catastrophic, the oil crisis did force Nokia to reassess its reliance on Soviet trade (about 12 percent of sales) as well as its international growth strategies. Several contingency plans were drawn up, but the greatest changes came after the company appointed a new CEO, Kari Kairamo, in 1975. Kairamo noted the obvious: Nokia was too big for Finland. The company had to expand abroad. He studied the expansion of other Scandinavian companies (particularly Sweden's Electrolux) and, following their example, formulated a strategy of first consolidating the company's business in Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, and then moving gradually into the rest of Europe. After the company had improved its product line, established a reputation for quality, and adjusted its production capacity, it would enter the world market.

Meanwhile, Nokia's traditional, heavy industries were looking increasingly burdensome. It was feared that trying to become a leader in electronics while maintaining these basic industries would create an unmanageably unfocused company. Kairamo thought briefly about selling off the company's weaker divisions, but decided to retain and modernize them. He reasoned that, although the modernization of these low-growth industries would be very expensive, it would guarantee Nokia's position in several stable markets, including paper, chemical, and machinery productions, and electrical generation. For the scheme to be practical, each division's modernization would have to be gradual and individually financed. This would prevent the bleeding of funds away from the all-important effort in electronics while preventing the heavy industries from becoming any less profitable. With each division financing its own modernization, there was little or no drain on capital from other divisions, and Nokia could still sell any group that did not succeed under the new plan. In the end, the plan prompted the machinery division to begin development in robotics and automation, the cables division to begin work on fiber optics, and the forestry division to move into high-grade tissues. Rise of Electronics: 1980s Nokia's most important focus was development of the electronics sector.

Over the course of the 1980s, the firm acquired nearly 20 companies, focusing especially on three segments of the electronics industry: consumer, workstations, and mobile communications. Electronics grew from 10 percent of annual sales to 60 percent of revenues from 1980 to 1988. In late 1984 Nokia acquired Salora, the largest color television manufacturer in Scandinavia, and Luxor, the Swedish state-owned electronics and computer firm. Nokia combined Salora and Luxor into a single division and concentrated on stylish consumer electronic products, since style was a crucial factor in Scandinavian markets. The Salora-Luxor division was also very successful in satellite and digital television technology. Nokia purchased the consumer electronics operations of Standard Elektrik Lorenz A.G. from Alcatel in 1987, further bolstering the company's position in the television market to the third largest manufacturer in Europe. In early 1988 Nokia acquired the data systems division of the Swedish Ericsson Group, making Nokia the largest Scandinavian information technology business.

Although a market leader in Scandinavia, Nokia still lacked a degree of competitiveness in the European market, which was dominated by much larger Japanese and German companies. Kairamo decided, therefore, to follow the example of many Japanese companies during the 1960s (and Korean manufacturers a decade later) and negotiate to become an original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, to manufacture products for competitors as a subcontractor. Nokia manufactured items for Hitachi in France, Ericsson in Sweden, Northern Telecom in Canada, and Granada and IBM in Britain. In doing so it was able to increase its production capacity stability. There were, however, several risks involved, those inherent in any OEM arrangement. Nokia's sales margins were naturally reduced, but of greater concern, production capacity was built up without a commensurate expansion in the sales network. With little brand identification, Nokia feared it might have a difficult time selling under its own name and become trapped as an OEM. In 1986 Nokia reorganized its management structure to simplify reporting efforts and improve control by central management. The company's 11 divisions were grouped into four industry segments: electronics; cables and machinery; paper, power, and chemicals; and rubber and flooring.

In addition, Nokia won a concession from the Finnish government to allow greater foreign participation in ownership. This substantially reduced Nokia's dependence on the comparatively expensive Finnish lending market. Although there was growth throughout the company, Nokia's greatest success was in telecommunications. Having dabbled in telecommunications in the 1960s, Nokia cut its teeth in the industry by selling switching systems under license from a French company, Alcatel. The Finnish firm got in on the cellular industry's ground floor in the late 1970s, when it helped design the world's first international cellular system. Named the Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) network, the system linked Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland. A year after the network came on line in 1981, Nokia gained 100 percent control of Mobira, the Finnish mobile phone company that would later become its key business interest as the Nokia Mobile Phones division. Mobira's regional sales were vastly improved, but Nokia was still limited to OEM production on the international market; Nokia and Tandy Corporation, of the United States, built a factory in Masan, South Korea, to manufacture mobile telephones.

These were sold under the Tandy name in that company's 6,000 Radio Shack stores throughout the United States. In 1986, eager to test its ability to compete openly, Nokia chose the mobile telephone to be the first product marketed internationally under the Nokia name; it became Nokia's "make or break" product. Unfortunately, Asian competitors began to drive prices down just as Nokia entered the market. Other Nokia products gaining recognition were Salora televisions and Luxor satellite dishes, which suffered briefly when subscription programming introduced broadcast scrambling. The company's expansion, achieved almost exclusively by acquisition, had been expensive. Few Finnish investors other than institutions had the patience to see Nokia through its long-term plans. Indeed, more than half of the new shares issued by Nokia in 1987 went to foreign investors. Nokia moved boldly into Western markets; it gained a listing on the London exchange in 1987 and was subsequently listed on the New York exchange. Crises of Leadership, Profitability in the Late 1980s and Early 1990s Nokia's rapid growth was not without a price.

In 1988, as revenues soared, the company's profits, under pressure from severe price competition in the consumer electronics markets, dropped. Chairman Kari Kairamo committed suicide in December of that year; not surprisingly, friends said it was brought on by stress. Simo S. Vuorileto took over the company's reins and began streamlining operations in the spring of 1988. Nokia was divided into six business groups: consumer electronics, data, mobile phones, telecommunications, cables and machinery, and basic industries. Vuorileto continued Kairamo's focus on high-tech divisions, divesting Nokia's flooring, paper, rubber, and ventilation systems businesses and entering into joint ventures with companies such as Tandy Corporation and Matra of France (two separate agreements to produce mobile phones for the U.S. and French markets). In spite of these efforts, Nokia's pretax profits continued to decline in 1989 and 1990, culminating in a loss of $102 million in 1991. Industry observers blamed cutthroat European competition, the breakdown of the Finnish banking system, and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

But, notwithstanding these difficulties, Nokia remained committed to its high-tech orientation. Late in 1991, the company strengthened that dedication by promoting Jorma Ollila from president of Nokia-Mobira Inc. (renamed Nokia Mobile Phones Ltd. the following year) to group president. Leading the Telecommunications Revolution: Mid-1990s and Beyond Forbes's Fleming Meeks credited Ollila with transforming Nokia from "a moneylosing hodgepodge of companies into one of telecommunications' most profitable companies." Unable to find a buyer for Nokia's consumer electronics business, which had lost nearly $1 billion from 1988 to 1993, Ollila cut that segment's workforce by 45 percent, shuttered plants, and centralized operations. Having divested Nokia Data in 1991, Nokia focused further on its telecommunications core by selling off its power unit in 1994 and its television and tire and cable units the following year. The new leader achieved success in the cellular phone segment by bringing innovative products to market quickly with a particular focus on ever smaller and easier-to-use phones featuring sleek Finnish design.

Nokia gained a leg up in cellphone research and development with the 1991 acquisition of the United Kingdom's Technophone Ltd. for $57 million. The company began selling digital cellular phones in 1993. Ollila's tenure brought Nokia success and with it global recognition. The company's sales more than doubled, from FIM 15.5 billion in 1991 to FIM 36.8 billion in 1995, and its bottom line rebounded from a net loss of FIM 723 million in 1992 to a FIM 2.2 billion profit in 1995. Securities investors did not miss the turnaround: Nokia's market capitalization multiplied ten times from 1991 to 1994. In late 1995 and early 1996, Nokia suffered a temporary setback stemming from a shortage of chips for its digital cellular phones and a resultant disruption of its logistics chain. The company's production costs rose and profits fell. Nokia was also slightly ahead of the market, particularly in North America, in regard to the shift from analog to digital phones.

As a result, it was saddled with a great number of digital phones it could not sell and an insufficient number of analog devices. Nevertheless, Nokia had positioned itself well for the long haul, and within just a year or two it was arch-rival Motorola, Inc. that was burdened with an abundance of phones it could not sell, analog ones, as Motorola was slow to convert to digital. As a result, by late 1998, Nokia had surpassed Motorola and claimed the top position in cellular phones worldwide. Aiding this surge was the November 1997 introduction of the 6100 series of digital phones. This line proved immensely popular because of the phones' small size (similar to a slim pack of cigarettes), light weight (4.5 ounces), and superior battery life. First introduced in the burgeoning mobile phone market in China, the 6100 soon became a worldwide phenomenon. Including the 6100 and other models, Nokia sold nearly 41 million cellular phones in 1998.

Net sales increased more than 50 percent over the previous year, jumping from FIM 52.61 billion ($9.83 billion) to FIM 79.23 billion ($15.69 billion). Operating profits increased by 75 percent, while the company's skyrocketing stock price shot up more than 220 percent, pushing Nokia's market capitalization from FIM 110.01 billion ($20.57 billion) to FIM 355.53 billion ($70.39 billion). Not content with conquering the mobile phone market, Nokia began aggressively pursuing the mobile Internet sector in the late 1990s. Already on the market was the Nokia 9000 Communicator, a personal all-in-one communication device that included phone, data, Internet, e-mail, and fax retrieval services. The Nokia 8110 mobile phone included the capability to access the Internet. In addition, Nokia was the first company to introduce a cellular phone that could be connected to a laptop computer to transmit data over a mobile network.

To help develop further products, Nokia began acquiring Internet technology companies, starting with the December 1997, $120 million purchase of Ipsilon Networks Inc., a Silicon Valley firm specializing in Internet routing. One year later, Nokia spent FIM 429 million ($85 million) for Vienna Systems Corporation, a Canadian firm focusing on Internet Protocol telephony. Acquisitions continued in 1999, when a further seven deals were completed, four of which were Internet-related. Meanwhile, net sales increased a further 48 percent in 1999, while operating profits grew by 57 percent; riding the late 1990s high-tech stock boom, the market capitalization of Nokia took another huge leap, ending the year at EUR 209.37 billion ($211.05 billion). Nokia's share of the global cellular phone market increased from 22.5 percent in 1998 to 26.9 percent in 1999, as the company sold 76.3 million phones in 1999.

Nokia's ascendance to the top of the wireless world by the end of the 1990s could be traced to the company being able to consistently, over and over again, come out with high-margin products superior to those of its competitors and in tune with market demands. The continuation of this trend into the 21st century was by no means certain as the increasing convergence of wireless and Internet technologies and the development of the third generation (3G) of wireless technology (which followed the analog and digital generations and which was slated to feature sophisticated multimedia capability) were predicted to open Nokia up to new and formidable competitors. Perhaps the greatest threat was that chipmakers such as Intel would turn mobile phones into commodities just as they had previously done with personal computers; the days of the $500 Nokia phone were potentially numbered. Nevertheless, Nokia's 25 percent profit margins were enabling it to spend a massive $2 billion a year on research and development and continue to churn out innovative new products, concentrating on the various standards being developed for 3G wireless networks.

A Two-Pronged Approach in the 21st Century Mobile communications developed along two broad fronts during the first years of the century, both of which played to Nokia's advantage, ensuring that the company remained the leader of its industry. The evolution of handsets into multimedia devices ushered in by 3G technology meant that Nokia could continue to rely on marketing expensive, sophisticated handsets. The days of the $500 Nokia phone gave way to the days of increasingly more expensive phones, such as the Nokia N90, a unit featuring a camera with Carl Zeiss optics, video-recording capabilities, and Internet access. Nokia could count on a substantial share of the high end of the market, a segment that continued to thrive midway through the decade, but the company's greatest strength was in the lower end of the market. In countries such as China, Brazil, and India there was a tremendous demand for inexpensive mobile phones, with analysts expecting 50 percent of the one billion handsets sold between 2005 and 2010 to be sold in developing economies.

Industry observers believed there were only two companies in the world that could seriously compete for the estimated 800-million-unit-per year market for inexpensive handsets: Motorola and Nokia. Rivals such as Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and LG Electronics preferred to confine their activities to the high end of the market, while emerging low-cost producers lacked the manufacturing efficiencies enjoyed by Nokia and Motorola. Against the backdrop of favorable market trends supporting Nokia's entrenched position, the company experienced a rare event in its modern history: a change in leadership. After a decade-and-a-half at the helm, CEO Ollila announced his retirement, effective June 2006. His replacement was a 25-year Nokia veteran named Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, a lawyer by training whom Fortune, in that magazine's October 31, 2005 issue, described as so taciturn that "he can seem like an extra from an Ingmar Bergman movie." Kallasvuo, who was promoted from his position as the head of the handset division, inherited an impressively capable company whose greatest challenge was contending with Motorola for the low end of the market and beating back competitors for control of the high end of the market.

"Nokia is a dynamic company in a fast-changing and fluid environment," Kallasvuo said in a November 29, 2005 interview with the South China Morning Post. "I look forward to working together with our team to help Nokia shape the future of mobile communications at a pivotal time for the industry." Principal Subsidiaries Nokia Holding Inc.; Nokia Products Limited (Canada); Nokia IP Telephony Corporation (Canada); Nokia Telecommunications Inc.; Nokia Inc.; Nokia (China) Investment Co. Ltd.; Nokia (H.K.) Limited (Hong Kong); Nokia (Ireland) Ltd.; Nokia Australia Pty Limited; Nokia Asset Management Oy; Nokia Austria GmbH; Nokia Danmark A/S (Denmark); Nokia Do Brasil Ltda. (Brazil); Nokia Do Brasil Tecnologia Ltda. (Brazil); Nokia Finance International B.V. (Netherlands); Nokia France; Nokia GmbH (Germany); Nokia India Private Limited; Nokia Italia Spa (Italy); Nokia Korea Ltd.; Nokia Mobile Phones; Nokia Networks; Nokia Norge AS (Norway); Nokia Oyj; Nokia Pte Ltd. (Singapore); Nokia Spain, S.A.; Nokia Svenska AB (Sweden); Nokia U.K.

Ltd.; Nokia Ventures Organization; Bave Tartum (U.K.); Beijing Nokia Hangxing Telecommunications Systems Co., Ltd. (China); Doctortel--Assistencia De Telecomunicaes S.A. (Portugal); Funda Ao Nokia De Ensino (Brazil); Instituto Nokia De Tecnologia (Brazil); Nokia (M) Sdn Bhd (Malaysia); Nokia Argentina S.A.; Nokia Belgium NV; Nokia Capitel Telecommunications Ltd. (China); Nokia Ecuador S.A.; Nokia Hellas Communications S.A.; Nokia Hungary Kommunikacios Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag (Hungary); Nokia Israel Ltd.; Nokia Middle East (United Arab Emirates; Nokia Nederland B.V. (Netherlands); Nokia Poland Sp Z.O.O.; Nokia Portugal S.A.; Nokia Private Joint Stock Company (Russia); Nokia Research Center; Nokia River Golf Ry; Nokia S.A. (Columbia); Nokia Servicios, S.A. de C.V. (Mexico); Nokia Technology GmbH (Germany); Nokianvirta Oy; Oy Scaninter Nokia Ltd.; Pointo Nokia Oy. Principal Competitors Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson; Motorola, Inc.; Siemens AG; Sony Corporation.

Chronology 1865 Nokia is founded as a maker of pulp and paper. 1898 Finnish Rubber Works is founded. 1912 Finnish Cable Works is formed. 1915 Nokia shares are first listed on the Helsinki exchange. 1967 Nokia merges with Finnish Rubber Works and Finnish Cable Works to form Nokia Corporation. 1979 Mobira Oy is formed as a mobile phone company. 1981 The first international cellular system, the Nordic Mobile Telephone network, comes on line, having been developed with the help of Nokia. 1982 Nokia acquires Mobira, which later becomes the Nokia Mobile Phones division. 1986 Company markets internationally the first Nokia mobile telephone. 1993 The first Nokia digital cellular phone hits the market. 1998 Nokia surpasses Motorola as the world's number one maker of mobile phones. 2002 Nokia introduces the first third-generation compliant mobile phone. 2005 Jorma Ollila announces he will step down as chief executive officer in 2006.

Additional Details Sales: EUR 29.26 billion (2004) Stock Exchanges: New York Helsinki Stockholm Frankfurt Ticker Symbol: NOK NAIC: 334210 Telephone Apparatus Manufacturing; 334220 Radio and Television Broadcasting and Wireless Communications Equipment Manufacturing; 334310 Audio and Video Equipment Manufacturing; 334419 Other Electronic Component Manufacturing; 517212 Cellular and Other Wireless Telecommunications; 517910 Other Telecommunications; 551112 Offices of Other Holding Companies Further Reference Angell, Mike, "Nokia Banking on New Phone Features, Cameras, E-Mail Access," Investor's Business Daily, December 3, 2002, p. A7. Baker, Stephen, and Kerry Capell, "The Race to Rule Mobile," Business Week, February 21, 2000, pp. 58-60. Baker, Stephen, Roger O.

Crockett, and Neil Gross, "Nokia: Can CEO Ollila Keep the Cellular Superstar Flying High?," Business Week, August 10, 1998, pp. 54-60. "Bellaby, Mara D., "Nokia Acquires Intellisynch," America's Intelligence Wire, November 17, 2005. Bensinger, Ari, "The Call on Nokia," Business Week Online, January 7, 2003. Berkman, Barbara N., "Brainstorming in the Sauna," Electronic Business, November 18, 1991, pp. 71-74. ------, "Sagging Profits Spark Identity Crisis at Nokia," Electronic Business, March 4, 1991, pp. 57-59. Burt, Tim, and Greg McIvor, "Land of Midnight Mobiles: A Former Toilet-Paper Maker from Finland Has Become the World's Largest Manufacturer of Mobile Phones," Financial Times, October 30, 1998, p. 18.

Edmondson, Gail, Peter Elstrom, and Peter Burrows, "At Nokia, a Comeback--and Then Some," Business Week, December 2, 1996, p. 106. Fox, Justin, "Nokia's Secret Code," Fortune, May 1, 2000, pp. 161-64+. Furchgott, Roy, "Nokia Signals Desire for Higher Profile," ADWEEK Eastern Edition, June 12, 1995, p. 2. Guth, Robert A., "Nokia Fights for Toehold in Japan's Cell-Phone Market," Wall Street Journal, June 26, 2000, p. A26. Heard, Joyce, and Keller, John J., "Nokia Skates into High Tech's Big Leagues," Business Week, April 4, 1988, pp. 102-03. Jacob, Rahul, "Nokia Fumbles, But Don't Count It Out," Fortune, February 19, 1996, pp. 86-88.

Kharif, Olga, "Will New Phones Boost Nokia's Signal?," Business Week Online, December 11, 2002. La Rossa, James, Jr., "Nokia Knocks on U.S. Door," HFD--The Weekly Home Furnishings Newspaper, February 10, 1992, pp. 66-67. Lemola, Tarmo, and Raimo Lovio, Miksi Nokia, Finland, Porvoo, Sweden: W. Sööderströöm, 1996, 211 p. Lineback, J. Robert, "Nokia's Mobile Phone Unit Is Ringing Bells," Electronic Business Buyer, June 1994, pp. 60-62. Meeks, Fleming, "Watch Out, Motorola," Forbes, September 12, 1994, pp. 192-94. "Nokia and CommTel Expand Broadband in the Pacific," PR Newswire, December 28, 2005. "Nokia Expands Production in China," TelecomWeb News Digest, December 1, 2005.

"Nokia Launches New 3G Phones," eWeek, December 1, 2005. "Not Finnished Yet," Economist, February 9, 1991, p. 73. Perez, Bien, "Nokia Adapts to Swift Changes," South China Morning Post, November 29, 2005. Reinhardt, Andy, "Cell Phones for the People," Business Week, November 7, 2005, p. 26. ------, "A Whole New Wireless Order," Business Week, October 31, 2005, p. MTL2. Salameh, Asad, "Nokia Repositions for a Major Cellular Marketing Initiative," Telecommunications, June 1992, p. 43. Schwartz, Nelson D., "The Man Behind Nokia's Comeback," Fortune, October 31, 2005, p. 39. Seyfer, Jessie, "Nokia to Acquire Intellisync," San Jose Mercury News, November 17, 2005.

Silberg, Lurie, "A Brand Apart," HFD--The Weekly Home Furnishings Newspaper, September 5, 1994, pp. 54-55. "These Sexy Gadgets Will Rock Next Year," Economic Times of India, December 20, 2005. Williams, Elaine, "100-Year-Old Nokia Experiences Fast-Growth Pains," Electronic Business, June 26, 1989, pp. 111-14. User Contributions: A list of articles on data & analysis on the telecommunications industry EE has been fined by the UK regulator for overcharging thousands of customers for calls to its customer services number. December 28th 2016 | Russia | Mobile | MegaFon The Russian mobile operator plans to acquire a 63.8% stake in the Internet company for US$740m. December 23rd 2016 | Multiple countries | Fixed | Multiple companies Companies will seek new sources of revenue as traditional streams dwindle and pressure from mobile broadband mounts.

December 22nd 2016 | Multiple countries | Mobile | Multiple companies The Finnish telecom firm has filed 32 cases against Apple a day after the iPhone maker sued it for breach of contract. December 21st 2016 | Ireland | Retail | Apple The news follows the publication of documents that show that the Irish authorities did not offer Apple tax benefits. December 13th 2016 | United Kingdom | Internet | Sky 21st Century Fox has agreed to acquire full control of Sky, as part of a US$14bn deal. December 7th 2016 | Finland | Internet | Multiple companies Telia, which operates in Finland under the Sonera brand, is working with Nokia to roll out the network. December 2nd 2016 | Norway | Mobile | Telenor Telenor reportedly said that it did not agree with the competition watchdog's assessment. November 10th 2016 | Multiple countries | Fixed | Altice NV The fine was levied in connection with Altice's acquisition of a stake in SFR and the buyout of Virgin Mobile.

November 10th 2016 | Multiple countries | Mobile | Apple Engineering and Technology Jobs - IEEE Job Site Member Sign-In The War For Talent Continues For Engineers In Europe A low graduation rate and aging workforce is causing a ï¿½severeï¿½ shortage of technical professionals By Ron Schneiderman / March 2013 There’s still a strong demand in Europe for engineers, despite high unemployment in the overall workforce, and ongoing economic uncertainties globally. And while there appears to be fewer job openings posted this year than in the past for American companies with facilities in Europe, human resource professionals of European-based companies complain that there’s not enough “talent” to go around. If anything, the need for qualified engineers and computer professionals may never have been greater than it is now. Europe isn’t alone. The Development Dimensions International (DDI)’s Global Selection Forecast 2012 reported that the competition for tech talent has increased steadily and rapidly over the past five years.

The “war for talent,” as the report describes it, is coming at a critical time, when organizations are “relying more than ever on talent with special skills to differentiate themselves from their competitors.” But EURES, the European jobs and mobility portal set up for job seekers in the European Union (EU), which provides job vacancy information in 31 European countries (the EU’s 27 member states and Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland), reports that the list of new vacancies for “high-skilled” labor increased significantly in 2012 compared to the previous year, from 18.6 to 24.3 percent. “There are shortages everywhere,” says Bill Parsons, executive vice president of human resources at chip designer and intellectual property vendor ARM Holdings in the U.K. “We’re seeing our numbers dropping now.” “SEVERE” IN GERMANY The shortage of electrical engineers (EEs) in Germany is “severe,” according to the Association of Germany Engineers (VDI). At last count in September 2012, there were 18 700 EE vacancies in Germany. Part of the problem is time.

On average, German companies need 114 days to fill positions for EEs. And more German engineers are retiring, or nearing retirement, than in any other EU member country. Schools aren’t keeping up with demand, in part because the dropout rate among EE students in Germany is 50 percent. There’s also a strong demand in Germany for academics in engineering and informatics. A survey conducted by BITKOM ( , the federal association for IT, telecommunications and new media, found that German companies can’t always find the people they need in Germany, resulting in an increase in job vacancies, not only for engineers, but also for IT specialists. This has been particularly difficult for Germany, which claims that its information technology and telecommunications (ITC) market is the world’s fourth largest. Efforts to promote careers in engineering for German women also don’t seem to have been very successful. With around a million engineers across several disciplines, only about 13 percent of them are women—a small increase from 10 percent a decade ago.

(Hoping to expand its recruiting opportunities, EADS, the European Aeronautics, Defense & Space group, has developed a special mentoring program for women, and hosted 250 women engineering students from Germany’s top universities—all members of Femtec, a German organization of women in engineering— at the ILA Air Show in Berlin in September 2012.) Rainer Schmidt-Rudloff, a human relations executive with Munich-based Infineon Technologies AG who focuses on university relations, says Infineon is doing “selective hiring” in 2013, and has been successful in filling its open positions for technical personnel. “However, due to the still uncertain economic outlook, an exact forecast is difficult.” Rohde & Schwarz, the German test and measurement company, is recruiting about 30 hardware and software development engineers for its home facility in Munich, and it’s looking for a systems engineer and system architect/software developer for the U.K. PLENTY OF U.K. OPENINGS The numbers are not quite as dramatic in the U.K., but one job site lists more than 1700 EE job openings.

“Tech professionals are far more concerned about the length of time a vacancy’s been advertised than the rest of the U.K. workforce,” says Mike Beresford, managing director of Randstad Technologies, an IT and technology recruiter. “Recruiting for a tech post is like trying to sell your house. Leave it on the market too long and, for whatever reason, people start to think there is something wrong with it. That leads to fewer applications.” ARM’s Parsons identifies two critical issues in developing a growing corps of engineers in Europe: Fewer engineering graduates are coming out of European universities, with “about half” of those going directly into presumably better paying non-engineering jobs, mainly banking and management consulting. Of the just under 500 engineers ARM hired in 2012, only 130 were new graduates. U.K. officials are also projecting a decline in the number of people studying computer science, a problem ARM’s Parsons says is partly the result of some universities keeping their software curriculum separate from their engineering programs. Facebook opened its first engineering office outside the U.S. in London in 2012, focusing on mobile products, initially recruiting about 25 developers for the facility.

In February, Facebook listed job openings in London on its website for a manager of software engineering, a product security engineer, and a security engineer/software tools. Google says it hired “hundreds” of software engineers in 2012, but it hasn’t disclosed its plans for 2013. Google also seems to sharply define the work of its larger European offices. Engineers and other tech professionals in the Google office in Munich have spent much of their time working on Chrome, the V8 Java Script Engine, and Google Dashboard. In Zurich, the focus has been on Maps, Gmail, and YouTube. In London, much of Google’s work has been on developing Google Maps and AdSense. But the company is building a new U.K. headquarters in central London. It’s not clear how many new hires might be involved, but the plan calls for a one million square foot office on a 2.4-acre plot in London’s King’s Cross Central development. Construction is scheduled to begin in late 2013, and Google expects to relocate its staff in the area to the new facility in 2016. Ireland says it currently has 4500 openings for skilled technical professionals.

Ireland also hopes to create 1300 new jobs over the next three years through Midas Ireland, an industry initiative aimed at promoting the country’s microelectronics industry. Hittite Microwave’s new International Operations Centre in Cork, Analog Devices, Microsemi, Xilinx, ZMDI, and M/A-COM Technology Solutions all have announced plans to increase hiring in 2013 in their facilities in Ireland. The Microelectronic Circuits Centre Ireland, working with 18 industry partners, has been recruiting researchers at all levels with experience in analog mixed-signal and RF integrated circuit research. Denmark will be 14 000 engineers short of its requirements in 2020. Huawei, the Chinese mobile communications company, plans to establish an R&D center in Helsinki, Finland that Kenneth Fredriksen, vice president of Huawei Central, Eastern and Nordic Europe, says will serve as one of the company’s core centers for device R&D. Initially, Huawei plans to recruit 30 employees for the Helsinki center, boosting that to more than 100 employees over five years. Initially, the Helsinki facility will focus on software development for smartphones, tablets, and other media-rich devices.

In September 2012, Huawei announced a US $2 billion investment in R&D, local procurement and other initiatives in the U.K. Currently, Huawei employs more than 7000 people across Europe. ARM is looking for more than 100 people in Europe, mostly for its Cambridge headquarters, but also in Norway, Sweden and France. The openings range from graduate software applications engineers, graphic hardware verification engineers, and principal design engineer/memory systems to at least two positions in the research department with “Internet of Things” in the job title. Cisco is looking for at least 10 software engineers and seven IT specialists in the U.K., and a product marketing manager for software in Belgium. Dell says it needs a storage solutions architect for a remote field satellite office in Denmark with advanced IT infrastructure architecture planning and design implementation skills and that can speak both Danish and English. Angela Romei, the global employment public relations manager for Microsoft, says that while the company is hiring in all countries across Europe, there’s a specific focus on staffing up its development centers in Ireland, Norway, and Denmark. Sweden reported 16 000 vacancies for computer professionals at the end of 2012.

While not facing the same numbers as other European countries, France also is having trouble replacing retiring engineers with equally skilled EEs. The National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control (INRIA) in France says it is launching a round of competitions to recruit 20 young graduate scientists, with two each to be based at its Bordeaux, Grenoble, Rennes, and Saclay R&D centers, and three each at the Lille, Nancy, Sophia, and Rocquencourt centers. It’s also hiring nine senior researchers to be based throughout France. In addition, INRIA is offering several post-doctoral Fellow positions, each lasting 16 months, in a variety of very narrow computer science-related study areas. “We will need talented and creative researchers,” says Michel Cosnard, chairman and CEO of INRIA, “particularly women, who are still under-represented in our disciplines.” There’s also a strong demand for IT professionals, including IT freelancers, in Germany, France, and Switzerland. Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Facebook, and Intel are recruiting IT specialists through a new initiative called MakeITin Ireland.

THE MIGRATION PATH The VDI says the shortage of qualified people will require Germany to more aggressively recruit skilled workers from other countries to fill its skill gaps. But getting people to move from one country to another in Europe has always been a challenge for would-be employers. New EU immigration rules may help fill many EU job vacancies. The VDI, together with FEANI, the European engineering organization, created the EU Blue Card to smooth the way for “highly educated” non-EU nationals to obtain work permits in EU countries, except the U.K., Denmark, and Ireland. (Information on how this works in Germany is available at .) “It is vital for the German economy to allow for the migration of highly skilled workers,” says Ina Kayser, who manages labor market analysis and advises the VDI on engineering profession issues. “This applies today, but much more in the future as we face demographic changes [across Europe], which will affect Germany quite badly.” To help ease the way for “foreign” engineers, some German companies are offering programs that include information on living in Germany, mentoring, and language classes. “Apart from methodological and specialist knowledge, soft skills and language skills are very important in Germany,” says Kayser.

INRIA has adopted policies to facilitate the integration and training of its mostly Ph.D.-level recruits, many of them from outside of France. “Mobility is essential in the dynamic and highly competitive world of computational science,” says Bruno Wierzbicki, the research institute’s director of human resources. ARM has been working this issue for some time. Parsons says many nationalities are represented in its facilities in the U.K. and Norway, and among the 100 interns currently on its engineer staff. ENTREPRENEURSHIP ANYONE? Start-ups have always been a key driver of new job creation and there are success stories across Europe. (Skype and Angry Birds are two high profile examples.) The Shoreditch district in East London has gained a reputation as the place to be for new tech ventures, and several were launched in Ireland in 2012, many of them in the Dublin neighborhood now known as the Silicon Docks. Enterprise Ireland is a government-sponsored organization with the largest venture fund in Europe. But by most standards, Europe doesn’t have a particularly strong record of success in entrepreneurship. European investors are more risk-averse than American venture capitalists.

Only about a third of EU member states have rules dedicated to VC funding, with the rest relying on general rules or corporate laws. And, unlike the U.S., where many academics have become highly successful as entrepreneurs outside the classroom, university faculty members aren’t allowed to participate in commercial activities in some European countries. The International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, held in January, seems indicative of the problem. Of the more than 140 companies in a special TechZone exhibit space set aside for young start-up companies, the Consumer Electronics Association, which organizes the event, said it could identify only eight companies that are EU-based. Several private concerns have been working to encourage European technical and business professionals to start their own businesses. The European Association of Communications Agencies, a trade group, launched an advertising campaign in Brussels in 2012 aimed at encouraging young Europeans to start businesses. The campaign was scheduled to expand to Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland, and the U.K. in March 2013. Four European groups—Silicon Saxony in Germany, DSP Valley in Belgium, Minilogic in France, and Point One in The Netherlands—have formed a Silicon Europe alliance to promote investment in technology.

U.K.-based Cambridge Consultants, which mostly designs products for others, has published a free guide to help start-ups get their products successfully to market. ABOUT THOSE LAYOFFS Will layoffs in Europe announced by Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia, Nokia Siemens, Philips Electronics, and others over the past several months help fill vacancies where there are shortages? Maybe. “Mechanical and electrical engineers are the most wanted disciplines here in Germany,” says the VDI’s Kayser. “Young graduates are often happy for opportunities involving living in a different country. But it depends on if the people are willing to relocate, willing to do a different job, willing to engage in further education that may be required for a certain position.” Nokia, anticipating layoffs in the middle of 2012, boosted its stock-option program in an effort to retain key senior level employees. Ericsson, after reporting in November 2012 that it planned a 9 percent cut of its Swedish staff, said in January that it intended to acquire Devoteam Telecom & Media operations in France—a deal that would add 400 skilled, France-based, IT professionals to theEricsson technical staff. The deal includes the acquisition of Devoteam’s TV SmartVision operations.

In February, press reports indicated the French government and private equity funds had offered to buy about a quarter of Alcatel-Lucent’s 29 000 wireless patents to help boost the company’s revenue. But the most overwhelming issue across Europe continues to be the shortage of engineers. ARM is taking the long view. To help press its point about the need for more engineers and other technologists in the U.K., ARM in February committed to funding the establishment of up to 1000 after-school clubs, enabling more than 15 000 U.K. primary school children, aged 9-11, to learn the basics of writing computer programs. ARM’s commitment represents the first round of corporate funding of the Code Club, a volunteer group that runs the program. With ARM’s support, the Code Club can now double the number of after school clubs it supports to 1000. To date, the schools have been funded by awards and private donations. About Ron Schneiderman: Ron Schneiderman is a contributing editor for Electronic Design and It Is Innovation (i3), and a regular contributor to IEEE Signal Processing Magazine.

He's the author of seven books, including "Technology Lost -- Hype and Reality in the Digital Age."

Question: In which European country are the head-quarters of the telecommunications company Nokia ?
Answer: FINLAND