Nokia Siemens Networks Outlines Post-Merger Strategy

By Tara Seals

Set to officially debut April 1, the result of the Nokia-Siemens merger, Nokia Siemens Networks, was previewed Tuesday at CTIA Wireless 2007 in Orlando, Fla.

The new entity will be organized into six business units, with a goal of growing market share in North America by focusing on enabling convergence. Particular areas of focus are IMS and voice call continuity, efficient transport with its optical portfolio, and the command and control of systems via OSS technology.

The last nine months since the merger was announced we have used to define what our operations will look like, and weve designated more than 1,000 leaders, said Simon Beresford-Wylie, designated CEO of Nokia Siemens. Were introducing our new brand identity, which is reflective of movement, energy and renewal. And were building an extraordinary telecoms powerhouse for infrastructure.

Beresford-Wylie described a future world of technology fragmentation, with GSM, LTE, TD-CDMA and WiMAX all likely to coexist in networks. Part of the reason for the merger was to be able to address any of these markets, he said. Before the merger we both followed the market. Now we want to take a position in the industry as a thought leader.

By 2015 about 70 percent of the worlds population will be connected to the Internet, with the next 2.5 billion people connected coming from the developing world, he said. Most of those connected users will not only have access to broadband, but will demand it. Content and applications will come from the Internet, and 80 to 90 percent of voice will be mobile, Beresford-Wylie added. We will see a 100-fold increase in traffic in the networks. There will only be a five-fold increase in revenue, so you will have to innovate to drive costs down.

Along with evolving to meet these trends, the future company will make a push into North America, the only market where it does not have No. 1 or No. 2 in market share.

Nokia www.nokia.com

Nokia Siemens Networks www.nokiasiemens.com

Siemens www.siemens.com