Nokia in advanced talks with Alcatel-Lucent seeking growth.

Published: Tue, 14 Apr 2015 by Rad

Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent are in advanced merger talks, both companies confirmed on April 14, 2015 following media speculation that a deal was in the works.

"A merger would give the combined entity a broader product portfolio and greater scale, but would bring its own challenges."

http://www.itworld.com

A mobile broadband specialist Nokia seeks to merge with Alcatel-Lucent, which has a strong position in fixed networks, according to Mark Newman, chief research officer of Ovum's telecoms research business.

Nokian logo Nokia

Nokia invests in technologies important in a world where billions of devices are connected. Nokia is focused on three businesses: network infrastructure software, hardware and services, which we offer through Nokia Networks; location intelligence, which we provide through HERE; and advanced technology development and licensing, which we pursue through Nokia Technologies. Each of these businesses is a leader in its respective field.

  • Founded in 1865
  • Revenue: EUR12.73 bil
  • Employees: 62,6 thousand

Alcatel Lucent Logo Alcatel-Lucent

The company focuses on fixed, mobile, and converged networking hardware, IP technologies, software, and services. Alcatel-Lucent has operations in more than 130 countries. Alcatel-Lucent has been named Industry Group Leader for Technology Hardware & Equipment sector in the 2014 Dow Jones Sustainability Indices review and listed in the 2014 Thomson Reuters Top 100 Global Innovators for the 4th year in a row.

  • Founded in 1898
  • Revenue: EUR14.436 bil
  • Employees: 62,3 thousand

Statement released for Stock Exchange

In relation to recent media speculation Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent confirm that they are in advanced discussions with respect to a potential full combination, which would take the form of a public exchange offer by Nokia for Alcatel-Lucent. There can be no certainty at this stage that these discussions will result in any agreement or transaction.

Merger would combine world 3th and 4th

The growing worldwide popularity of smartphones has increased the focus on mobile networks, but fixed broadband networks are still needed to deliver high-resolution video content and to provide backhaul for Wi-Fi networks in homes. The integration of Alcatel-Lucent's fixed offering with the best parts of the two companies' respective mobile offerings could in that regard be a boon for end-users.

The two vendors are a distant third and fourth to Ericsson and Huawei Technologies in the access networks market, Newman said. A merger would give them scale and a larger footprint that would help them compete with Ericsson and Huawei

Race to develop 5G

Merger would enable both companies join their strength in race to develop 5G. Telecom manufacturers are racing to develop a new generation of "5G" mobile networks that could start to change the world in five years, enabling lightning-quick downloads, driverless cars and remote surgery.

To fulfil the 5G dream, manufacturers must build infrastructure that can carry mobile phone signals powerful and quick enough to unfailingly support split-second activities, such as surgical operations or automatic traffic movement.

Nokia Networks, along with other industry partners, believes that communications beyond 2020 will involve a combination of existing and evolving systems, like LTE-Advanced and Wi-Fi, coupled with new, revolutionary technologies designed to meet new requirements, such as virtually zero latency to support tactile Internet, machine control or augmented reality.

5G will be the set of technical components and systems needed to handle these requirements and overcome the limits of current systems.

Nokia's research on 5G started long ago and is ongoing with many tracks: physical layer and system level aspects, frequency bands ~1-100 GHz, small cells and wide area, deployment studies and network architecture.

Nokia leads the way for 5G: Technology is 40 TIMES faster than 4G - and it's so powerful your phone can't handle it yet.

  • The Nokia Networks system reaches speeds of up to 10Gbps
  • Tech helps pave the way for 5G networks - the next level in mobile internet
  • By comparison, the theoretical maximum for 4G networks is 42Mbps
  • Such speeds mean full-length HD films could be downloaded in a second

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