Nokia Siemens has identified the areas it will focus on following its latest restructuring but has also listed what's surplus to requirements

Phil Harvey, Editor-in-Chief

November 23, 2011

1 Min Read
NSN Unveils Its Kill List

Nokia Networks , as part of its restructuring, says it will focus on mobile broadband, services and customer experience management. (See NSN to Cut 17,000 Staff and NSN to Restructure.)

7323.jpgBut what businesses might it exit?

Those details weren't divulged in NSN's press conference today but rather they were featured in an email from NSN CEO Rajeev Suri to the company's 74,000 employees worldwide. The email was cited by Mobile Europe, and NSN's spokesman confirmed to Light Reading that the note and its details were authentic.

Suri, in the memo, declared NSN may "exit or maintain" a wide range of businesses including "perfect voice (fixed-line VoIP), broadband access, WiMax, narrowband, carrier Ethernet, business support systems (BSS), and communications and entertainment solutions (CES)." Those businesses, Suri wrote, "will be targeted for exit (possibly through divestment) or put in maintenance mode."

NSN has already agreed to sell its microwave transport unit. (See DragonWave to Buy NSN Unit.)

"The big question is, can they really execute on a program like this while remaining a credible, reliable vendor to the operator community, especially in the fast-growing mobile broadband market?" asked Bengt Nordström, CEO of Northstream consulting firm. "Will operators believe that NSN can deliver … while they do this restructuring?"

Nordström added that NSN has been "cutting costs for five or six years. That has not been sufficient. This is more of the same, but it is a much more drastic restructuring. … The numbers speak for themselves."

— Phil Harvey, Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading and Michelle Donegan, European Editor, Light Reading Mobile

About the Author(s)

Phil Harvey

Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading

Phil Harvey has been a Light Reading writer and editor for more than 18 years combined. He began his second tour as the site's chief editor in April 2020.

His interest in speed and scale means he often covers optical networking and the foundational technologies powering the modern Internet.

Harvey covered networking, Internet infrastructure and dot-com mania in the late 90s for Silicon Valley magazines like UPSIDE and Red Herring before joining Light Reading (for the first time) in late 2000.

After moving to the Republic of Texas, Harvey spent eight years as a contributing tech writer for D CEO magazine, producing columns about tech advances in everything from supercomputing to cellphone recycling.

Harvey is an avid photographer and camera collector – if you accept that compulsive shopping and "collecting" are the same.

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