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NSN unit to be sold

By Reuters
Frankfurt, 04 Dec 2012

Mobile telecoms equipment joint venture Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), which is focusing on its core business, is to sell its optical fibre unit to Marlin Equity Partners for an undisclosed sum.

Up to 1 900 employees, mainly in Germany and Portugal, will be transferred to the new company, NSN said on Monday.

The company, owned by Nokia and Siemens, has sold a number of product lines since it last year announced plans to divest non-core assets and cut 17 000 jobs, nearly a quarter of its total workforce.

Nordea Markets analyst Sami Sarkamies said he expected more divestments after the optical unit deal. This disposal was a small surprise, he said, because NSN needed some optical technology - where data is transmitted by pulses of light - for its main mobile broadband business.

The move may hint the company is preparing itself for further consolidation in the sector by cutting overlaps with other players, Sarkamies said.

The telecom equipment market is going through rough times with stiff competition. French Alcatel-Lucent is also cutting costs.

NSN Services to close

A service unit of NSN in Germany faces closure after losing a contract with its biggest customer, German daily newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported.

The newspaper cited company sources as saying workers at NSN Services would be told in a meeting on Wednesday that Deutsche Telekom has cancelled its contract with the Nuremberg-based company, effective at the end of the month.

The newspaper said talks for a new contract have failed. Without the income from Deutsche Telekom, NSN Services will have to shut down at the end of 2013, affecting 1 000 jobs, it said.

NSN declined to comment. Telephone calls to Deutsche Telekom late on Monday were not answered.

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