It’s being reported that Samsung may be interested in acquiring Nokia’s mobile network infrastructure business. Discussions are supposedly underway between Nokia and Samsung about the potential sale and if the acquisition proceeds, it would give the Korean tech giant a boost in the global network infrastructure market.
As per a Bloomberg report, Samsung is specifically interested in purchasing Nokia’s telecom equipment division. The Finnish giant has been facing challenges competing with other industry players like Ericsson and Huawei in recent years. As a result, the company now has to explore various options, including the possibility of selling or merging its telecom equipment division.
Samsung Electronics already produces 4G and 5G base stations, chipsets, devices, radios, and core equipment. It also serves mobile network operators globally, including Telus in Canada, O2 in Germany, Reliance Jio in India, KDDI and NTT DoCoMo in Japan, Dish and Verizon in the US, and Vodafone in the UK.
While Nokia has not yet made a final decision – it’s not even fielding any questions from the press – its telecom equipment division is estimated to be worth around US$10 billion (~RM43.5 billion).
Samsung Networks, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, trails just behind Ericsson and Huawei in the global telecom network infrastructure sector. Again, should Samsung acquire Nokia’s mobile network business, its RAN market share could increase from 6.1% last year to 25.6%, potentially making Samsung the second-largest RAN supplier worldwide.
(Source: SamMobile, Bloomberg, RCR Wireless)
