NSN Offloads More IPTV Assets

Nokia Networks continued its restructuring process today with the sale of some of its IPTV assets to global systems integrator Accenture for an undisclosed sum. (See NSN Sells IPTV Assets to Accenture.)

Accenture has already developed a software suite for over-the-top (OTT) video service provisioning called the Accenture Video Solution. Adding the NSN video products and services will, according to Accenture, enable it to help service providers deliver "virtually any video content" to any device, in any format, over any type of network.

Accenture is getting only part of the NSN IPTV empire, though. Earlier this year, NSN agreed to sell certain video-related assets to Belgacom SA (Euronext: BELG), a longtime IPTV systems customer, in a deal that will see more than 20 NSN staff transfer to the Belgian operator.

In general, Belgacom will assume much (but not all) of the Myrio business that Siemens Communications acquired in 2005, while Accenture will take on board the Ubiquity Multiscreen TV systems launched in 2010, though it's uncertain whether these two deals cover all of NSN IPTV domain. (See NSN Crosses Its IPTV Streams and Siemens Snaps Up Myrio.)

Neither NSN nor Accenture is disclosing the number of staff that will transfer from the telecom equipment vendor to the systems integrator, nor the number of video service provider customers Accenture will gain as part of the deal.

Why this matters
For NSN this is all about relinquishing assets that are no longer part of its core focus and reducing costs: The company has already offloaded a number of units that are no longer aligned to its long-term plans and is still in the process of finding suitors for other assets. While the number of IPTV-related staff exiting NSN isn't enormous in relation to the job cuts it has planned (more than 17,000), this is another step toward NSN clearing its decks and becoming a slimmer, more focused company.

For Accenture, this puts it more firmly in the TV everywhere market, adding technology capability to its extensive support services capabilities.

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— Ray Le Maistre, International Managing Editor, Light Reading