A new image for a new strategy. Nokia took advantage of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to change its logo, the last dating back to 2011. More refined, it aims to be “the emblem of an energized, dynamic and modern Nokia” which intends to release “the multiplier potential of networks”. . Founded in 1865, the Finnish equipment manufacturer is beginning a new transformation, he who has already known several lives.
World number one in mobile phones in the 2000s, it will miss the turning point of smartphones initiated by Apple’s iPhone by remaining in the “low cost” niche. The manufacturer will end up selling its mobile terminals division to Microsoft in 2013. The following years, with in particular the acquisition of the French Alcatel Lucent (2016), will be a long refocusing on the operator and business market.
A refocusing reinforced by the 2023 strategic plan which sees Nokia “as a leader in B to B technological innovation”. Based on six pillars, it mainly aims to increase its market share with telecom operators – its historical business – while developing the share of the business segment, in particular via private 5G offers. The group also intends to make its CSR commitments, in terms of sustainability and accessibility, a competitive advantage.
Private networks, a growth driver
Nokia’s recent announcements go in the direction of this B to B refocusing. The equipment manufacturer has extended its partnership with Kyndryl (formerly IBM) for three years for the deployment of private 4G/5G networks and edge computing services in the world of industry, mining or the public sector.
The equipment manufacturer also sells its solutions directly. In France, the Société du Grand Paris has chosen its technologies to bring 5G to four lines of the future Ile-de-France metro. A subsidiary of Nokia France, Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) has of course used the Nokia Digital Automation Cloud connectivity platform to set up a private 5G network at its Calais site.
The development of the business market must also serve as a growth driver as telecom operators reduce the scope of their investments in the current economic context, particularly in the United States and Europe.
Like its competitors, Ericsson and Huawei must also deal with “cloudification” and the opening of network architectures with Open RAN, reducing the dependence of operators on their suppliers. Nokia has just launched anyRAN allowing operators to bring their radio access networks (RAN) to cloud or on-premise infrastructures.
Ericsson ubiquitous at MWC
The second European equipment manufacturer, Ericsson, has chosen to lay off 8,500 employees worldwide, or 8% of its workforce. Without our knowing at this stage, according to The echoesif the more than 1,000 French employees including the R & D center of Massy in the Paris region, are concerned.
In January, the Swedish group had published 2022 financial results worse than expected with net profit down 17% to reach 1.7 billion euros. And for 2023, its CEO, Börje Ekholm, expects to face “headwinds”. This does not prevent Ericsson from firing on all cylinders at the MWC in Barcelona by multiplying the announcements.
The equipment manufacturer presented a new range of equipment and software facilitating the deployment of 5G indoor. While approximately 80% of mobile data is generated indoors, only 10 to 15% of the interior surface of buildings is currently covered by 5G.
In addition, Ericsson announced, in association with Telefónica and Qualcomm, the launch of the first commercial 5G millimetric (mmWave) mobile network in Spain. The use of so-called millimeter waves, in the high frequencies of the spectrum (the 26 GHz band) makes it possible to reach high speeds and a large capacity but on a limited perimeter. Ideal, for example, to cover an industrial site or a football stadium.
Finally, again with Telefónica and two other operators, Orange and Vodafone, Ericsson demonstrated a platform that is part of the GSMA’s Open Gateway initiative. This involves offering common programming interfaces (APIs) to developers to enable them to integrate new services and applications into their networks. A new way for operators to monetize their infrastructure.