Nokia

A senior figure at Nokia licensee Human Mobile Devices (HMD) insisted there was still broad demand for feature phones sporting the Finnish giant’s logo years after the brand’s consumer heyday, while citing positive early progress with devices launched under its own name.

HMD SVP for Europe and ANZ James Robinson (pictured) told Mobile World Live the Nokia brand still had “huge demand” in the feature phone space, but when it came to smartphones its own name had been introduced partly in a bid to appeal to younger consumers.

He noted its research had uncovered “a lot of people who were buying Nokia smartphones were somewhat older, so we needed to actually address how do we get into a fresh young audience and that’s where the HMD brand came from”.

In the feature phone space, he pointed to good sales of Nokia-branded devices across numerous markets and demographics.

“The audience is really broad: we sold 2 million feature phones in India in one month. We have a huge audience across Africa, in the UK Eton [College] bought Nokia 105s…and they issued them [to students]”.

He also noted progress with basic devices being used for events including music festivals where smartphones might get damaged and as safer options for children, with parents one of its current target markets.

Nokia noted in its annual report for 2024 HMD signed an exclusive licensing agreement to use its brand in 2016 which expires “by March 2026”.

Figures released at the end of 2024 showed the Finnish vendor held a 10 per cent stake in HMD.

Discussing the relationship between the two and the current agreement, Robinson said Nokia is “a very good partner of ours” along with being a shareholder.

“I can’t really speculate about what happens beyond the end of the contract, other than there’s still huge demand for Nokia devices.”

Own brand progress
In recent years, the company has spread its wings beyond Nokia with a number of white label and partner releases including with Mattel, Heineken and FC Barcelona.

It also pushed feature and smartphones under its own brand.

Robinson said HMD was “quite pleased” in the own-brand push, with “some markets better than others”.

He noted there is “obviously a lot of competition in that sub-$500 space at the moment and it just takes time to build these brands”.

“The US has been outstanding”.

“In Kenya we’ve done more sales over there with the HMD brand than we’ve done on Nokia”.

“We’ve done better than expected and when we benchmark ourselves against other brands that have introduced products to markets like Europe, we’d be on par or better than their performance”.

He also noted “in India we’ve doubled our feature phone sales since we introduced the HMD brand. It just enables us to play in different channels or with different partners than we do with Nokia and that makes sense creates a bit more choice”.

Source: Mobile World Live

Verification tests by SoftBank and partners demonstrated network capacity can be increased without deploying new base stations, a feat the operator indicated meant AI for RAN has the potential to reduce the need for fresh infrastructure investment.

Ryuji Wakikawa, head of the company’s Research Institute of Advanced Technology, explained in a briefing its AI for RAN work clearly showed the impact AI can have on enhancing RAN performance.

He added being able to achieve substantial improvements without requiring changes to communication specifications for AI utilisation “suggests the potential for major evolution of our infrastructure through AI innovation”. 

The operator recently completed verification tests on three use cases, covering uplink channel interpolation, sounding reference signals prediction and AI-driven medium access control scheduling, for improving wireless performance.

The initiative, jointly conducted with Nvidia and Fujitsu, enhanced channel estimation accuracy for signals received at base stations, known as uplink channel interpolation, with the operator confirming uplink user throughput improved by about 20 per cent on smartphones.

On the opening day of MWC25, SoftBank issued a raft of press releases related to AI RAN developments.

The operator and Red Hat jointly developed a platform which monitors energy usage and optimises power consumption for virtualised RAN and AI applications operating in AI-RAN data centres. This enables its distributed AI-RAN offering Aitras to dynamically allocate resources to AI applications based on power usage and other factors.

Working with Fujitsu, the operator claimed it completed the implementation of central unit functions on Nvidia’s Grace CPU Superchip platform to accelerate the commercialisation of Aitras.

SoftBank also partnered with Nokia to integrate a new function into its Aitras Orchestrator, which allows AI and virtualised RAN to coexist on a single server, demonstrating benefits such as increased server resource utilisation and the ability to significantly reduce server downtime when switching roles.

Source: Mobile World Live

Infinera inevitably dominated discussions during Nokia’s press and analyst briefing on the eve of MWC25, with the vendor’s outgoing chief Pekka Lundmark (pictured) and other executives hailing the acquisition of the US player as a significant boost for its position in optical networking.

Nokia completed the acquisition on 28 February, three days before the doors opened on MWC25 and eight months after it lined up the $2.3 billion deal.

Lundmark said Infinera “significantly increases our scale in optical networks and accelerates our innovation with web-scalers”.

Perhaps the key benefit is strengthening Nokia’s position in the US: Lundmark cited Infinera’s manufacturing capabilities in the nation as attractive.

Federico Guillen, president of Network Infrastructure, highlighted the speed with which the Infinera acquisition closed, though was coy about offering too much detail on the likely direction of the combination given the ink on the final deal was barely 40-hours old at the time of the briefing.

However, there was clear enthusiasm on the potential from the Infinera team being brought on board.

Former CEO of the acquired business David Heard, who is now NI chief strategic growth officer at Nokia, and Nokia’s VP and GM of optical networks James Watt each discussed future growth opportunities.

The executives argued providing the power and affordability required to meet operator needs across access networks, routing or optical connectivity can only be achieved by working at the chipset level.

R&D teams which had worked separately over the past decade would now combine to address big markets, the executives explained.

Getting defensive
Lundmark said the defence sector is another field Nokia is actively participating in as it unveiled a deal with Lockheed Martin and Verizon to embed its technology into the US defence company’s 5G.MIL Hybrid Base Station.

The Nokia chief said it is winning favour in the military and defence sector due to its position as a trusted partner and technology advances.

“It’s vital to have trusted actors in this space. Defence communications is increasingly about real-time situational awareness”, spanning strategic, operational and tactical situations.

Lundmark said Nokia recently launched a military-grade system which enables 5G connectivity, a significant step forward for “capabilities in capacity and latency, in security”, over products which were previously “on the level of 3G”.

Nokia had a military-grade portable 5G network set-up on show, which president of Mobile Networks Tommi Uitto said contained the RAN and core in a rucksack weighing 8kg.

Uitto used the defence pack as an example of how the various divisions of Nokia continue to collaborate and benefit from each other’s work despite a decentralised approach which formed a foundation of Lundmark’s strategy.

In a panel session, executives emphasised each business unit still forms an essential part of Nokia the company, while facing a barrage of questions over geopolitics and how the vendor might manage these moving forward.

AI RAN
The vendor also lined up some news around AI RAN, with executives from T-Mobile US, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison and SoftBank Corp joining Uitto to discuss an approach the Nokia executive explained will be key as mobile data traffic is tipped to hit 1,888 Exabytes per month by 2033.

T-Mobile president of technology Ulf Ewaldsson (pictured, left) acknowledged AI may not be a new feature for most mobile operators, but explained the technology had significantly boosted the company’s abilities in network slicing, an area it won plenty of fresh business in over the course of 2024.

Ewaldsson said AI-driven automation was reaping benefits in disaster recovery, halving the time taken to reconnect customers.

Indosat CEO Vikram Sinha (pictured, centre) discussed the benefits of being an AI-native operator, in particular its ability to fuel broader Indonesian digital and leadership goals, with SoftBank Corp VP and head of the Research Institute of Advanced Technology Ryuji Wakikawa (pictured, right) noting operators need a means to capitalise on the inferencing capabilities the emerging technology provides.

Slower pace
On more than one occasion, Lundmark noted he was not going to set a strategy which his successor Justin Hotard would then have to follow or reverse. Instead, the outgoing head emphasised the plan for a smooth transition by remaining on hand as an adviser for his successor until the year-end.

He said his decision to step down was due to having spent 23 years steering various listed companies, a period spanning 92 quarters and a resulting pace of life which “is addictive” but also “never stops”. The timeframe is “enough for one CEO”.

Lundmark argued he leaves Nokia in better shape than when he arrived, with the vendor having “regained our technology leadership”, after a period in the doldrums during the early days of 5G.

“Now the situation is completely different and it is different across all network domains, and we have also identified new significant growth vectors going forward.”

Source: Mobile World Live

Nokia added to its product line for industries with MX Context, a system designed to improve operational efficiency by generating insight using data from a range of sources and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The platform is promoted as supporting intelligent automation by providing situational and contextual awareness of what is going on in operational environments.

Nokia asserts its latest addition is the only solution of its type on the market.

MX Context combines data from a range of sources using sensor fusion technology and derives real-time insights. Initial use cases highlighted by the vendor are for tracking and positioning of assets, and aiding in rapid response to worker incidents.

The aim of the product is to improve enterprise operations and worker safety. It forms part of Nokia’s MX-branded products for industry.

Nokia VP enterprise campus edge solutions, cloud and network services Stephan Litjens said: “AI is becoming a strategic element for Industry 4.0 transformation”, adding its latest technology “takes data-driven operational excellence to the next level, transforming data into contextual awareness information that can be used as actionable insights and intelligent automation.”

Source: Mobile World Live

Espoo, Finland – Nokia, in collaboration with Vodafone and RingCentral, will unveil Immersive Voice and Audio Services (IVAS) at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2025. This groundbreaking technology, part of 5G Advanced, promises to revolutionize voice communication by delivering natural, three-dimensional sound experiences, even for remote calls.

Transforming Voice Communication
IVAS enhances traditional voice services with spatial audio, making conversations lifelike and immersive. Applications range from business meetings and industrial operations to education, sports, and everyday mobile calls. The technology leverages the Metadata-Assisted Spatial Audio (MASA) format, designed for devices like smartphones, and integrates a built-in renderer for head-tracked binaural audio and multi-loudspeaker playback.

Key Benefits of IVAS

• Multi-stream teleconferencing: Enables seamless audio for complex meetings, with spatially distinct voices and inclusive soundscapes that make remote participants feel “in the room.”
• Immersive 1-to-1 calling: Offers 360° audio for richer, more engaging interactions, with head-tracking for accurate directional sound.
• Enhanced industrial access: Improves communication in noisy environments like factories and construction sites, while aiding remote servicing and critical operations.

Industry Collaboration
Developed by 13 companies and included in the 3GPP Release 18 standard, IVAS builds on the widely used Enhanced Voice Services (EVS). Nokia, Vodafone, and RingCentral are committed to expanding the IVAS ecosystem, delivering impactful audio experiences across communication platforms.

Experience IVAS at MWC 2025
Visitors can explore IVAS concepts at the Vodafone (Hall 3 Stand 3E11), Nokia (Hall 3 Stand 3B20), and RingCentral (Executive Meeting Room 12Ex, Hall 7E) booths from March 3-6, 2025.

Quotes

• Jyri Huopaniemi, Nokia Technologies: “IVAS brings new use cases to life, delivering immersive audio experiences across platforms.”
• Nadia Benabdallah, Vodafone: “Immersive voice technology enhances business meetings, industrial operations, and everyday calls.”
• Homayoun Razavi, RingCentral: “IVAS restores the power of voice, promoting inclusivity and unlocking AI-enhanced collaboration.”

Source: Business Insider

By Supantha Mukherjee

Summary

• Q4 net sales up 10% to 5.98 bln euros vs 5.74 bln estimate
• CEO expects improving market trends to persist into 2025
• CEO expects Infinera deal to close in Q1 vs H1 earlier
• CEO expects to benefit from Stargate project
• Nokia shares rise 3%

STOCKHOLM, Jan 30 (Reuters) – Finland’s Nokia (NOKIA.HE),  reported stronger than expected fourth-quarter adjusted operating profit and sales on Thursday, helped by higher demand for telecoms gear from mobile operators in North America and India, and was upbeat about 2025 prospects.

Shares of the telecoms gear maker were up 3% at 0840 GMT, outperforming a 0.4% rise in Europe’s STOXX 600 index.

Nokia’s quarterly net sales rose 10% to 5.98 billion euros ($6.2 billion), beating analysts’ estimate of 5.74 billion euros in an LSEG poll.

The company said sales at its network infrastructure business climbed 17% due to a strong recovery in demand from communication service providers, notably in North America.

“What we have seen previously is that when the markets turn, the North American market turns first, both up and down,” CEO Pekka Lundmark told Reuters, adding that he expects improving market trends to persist into 2025.

The company expects full-year profit of between 1.9 billion euros and 2.4 billion euros, compared with an estimate of 2.13 billion euros on LSEG Workspace.

Nokia and its Nordic rival Ericsson (ERICb.ST),  have seen double-digit growth in North America due to a rebound in demand after years of weakness. Demand from Indian clients, which dropped significantly after rapid growth in 2023, is also recovering.

To tap the artificial intelligence boom, Nokia agreed to buy Infinera (INFN.O), opens new tab in a $2.3 billion deal last year to gain from the billions of dollars in investment pouring into data centres such as the $500 billion Stargate project backed by OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle.

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“We have interest in all data centres and assuming that the Stargate project will deliver, it will be an exciting market opportunity for us,” Lundmark said.

He now expects the Infinera deal to close by the end of the first quarter, instead of by the end of the first half of the year.

Comparable earnings before interest and tax rose to 1.14 billion euros, beating the 960 million euros expected by analysts in the LSEG poll.

Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm. Editing by Terje Solsvik, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Mark Potter