see some margin pressure in that market,
and believe we need to further increase R&D
investments to ensure leadership in 5G. In fact,
we have decided that we will invest whatever it
takes to win in 5G.”
Nokia said Thursday it has secured 101
commercial 5G deals with 36 live networks,
while Ericsson, respectively, said last week it
had 112 commercial 5G agreements with 65
live networks. The Nordic duo is still trailing 5G
global market leader Huawei.
In a call with reporters, Lundmark said Nokia was
“well placed” to take advantage of bans imposed
on some network equipment vendors, clearly
pointing to Huawei and some other Chinese
companies without naming them.
“Some of the geopolitical trends are opening
up new opportunities,” Lundmark said in the
call. “We understand that the safety and security
of the network and the trustworthiness of the
vendor is extremely important. It’s going to be
increasingly important in the future.”
Huawei has been banned by several
governments from 5G networks over
allegations it can allow the Chinese
government to snoop on data. Huawei has
denied the allegations. Sweden became latest
European country last week to ban Huawei
and ZTE, another Chinese network equipment
provider, from its 5G networks.
Nokia also announced a new strategy, effective
Jan. 1, where it will have four business groups
consisting of mobile networks, fixed networks,
cloud and network services, and the Nokia
Technologies unit. Lundmark said Nokia would
share details of the new strategy in December.