Planned acquisition will keep Canada at the forefront of next-generation wireless research and development; strengthen Nokia Siemens Networks in North America and LTEESPOO, Finland, June 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Nokia Siemens Networks has taken a significant step towards strengthening its leadership in Long Term Evolution, or LTE, next generation wireless technology and expanding its market presence in North America with an agreement to acquire key assets from Nortel.
The planned USD 650 million acquisition, which will bring together the highly complementary assets of the two companies in the field of mobile radio access, adds further key talent and resources to enhance Nokia Siemens Networks' existing strength and momentum in LTE. The acquisition of Nortel's profitable CDMA business would significantly improve Nokia Siemens Networks' presence in North America and make it a leading supplier of wireless infrastructure products in the region.
"This agreement provides an important strategic opportunity for Nokia Siemens Networks to strengthen its position in two key areas, North America and LTE, at a price that makes good economic sense," said Simon Beresford-Wylie, Chief Executive Officer of Nokia Siemens Networks. "It also represents stability for Nortel's existing customers and offers a great opportunity for employees to move into a stable future with an industry winner. The R&D organization in Canada would become a long-term wireless center of excellence within Nokia Siemens Networks, complementing our other global sites."
Existing Nortel and Nokia Siemens Networks customers welcomed the agreement. "Verizon views today's announcement as good news for the global wireless industry," said Dick Lynch, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Verizon. "This deal brings together two important Verizon suppliers; we look forward to our continuing work with Nokia Siemens Networks."
"As Nortel's largest customer in Canada, Bell supports Nokia Siemens' plan to continue to foster Nortel's long history of research and development in Canada. Such ongoing technology development is of critical importance as Bell rapidly builds out our advanced next generation wireless networks across Canada," said Stephen Howe, Senior Vice President of Wireless Networks and Chief Technology Officer, Bell Mobility.
"This news eliminates industry uncertainty and enhances CDMA and EVDO, today and in the future. We at Sprint are pleased to have the support of a strong and stable supplier to continue to deliver reliable technology and services that our customers rely on every day," said Dan Hesse, President and Chief Executive Officer, Sprint Nextel.
"Bringing these assets of Nortel together with Nokia Siemens Networks is good for customers like TELUS and good for Canada," said Eros Spadotto, Executive Vice-President, Technology Strategy of TELUS. "As TELUS invests in building a next generation wireless network, we are pleased by Nokia Siemens Networks' strong desire to maintain a strong R&D presence in Canada, helping keep the country at the forefront of advanced wireless technology."
The transaction would see more than 2,500 Nortel employees - largely located in Ottawa, Canada and Dallas, United States but also including employees in Mexico and China - transferred to Nokia Siemens Networks. Approximately 400 of those employees are focused on LTE research and development, and would enhance the ability of Nokia Siemens Networks to provide innovation and strengthen its position in LTE, where it is already working with customers such as NTT Docomo in Japan. The support and development of Nokia Siemens Networks' existing product lines would be unaffected by this acquisition.
Export Development Canada (EDC), Canada's government-owned export credit agency, is supporting this transaction with a USD 300 million loan commitment. "We are delighted to have secured the backing of EDC for this transaction," said Luca Maestri, Chief Financial Officer of Nokia Siemens Networks. "Nokia Siemens Networks is committed to Canada as an important center of excellence for next-generation wireless technology."
Due to Nortel's restructuring process, the transaction is subject to the approval of the United States Bankruptcy Court and the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. Hearings by those courts to approve bidding procedures, break-up fee and expense reimbursement will be held on or before June 29, 2009, with final sale hearings expected on July 28, 2009 in the US and July 30, 2009 in Canada. Closing of the transaction, which is expected to occur in the third quarter of 2009, remains subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of necessary regulatory approvals.
About Nokia
Nokia is a pioneer in mobile telecommunications and the world's leading maker of mobile devices. Today, we are connecting people in new and different ways - fusing advanced mobile technology with personalized services to enable people to stay close to what matters to them. We also provide comprehensive digital map information through NAVTEQ; and equipment, solutions and services for communications networks through Nokia Siemens Networks.
About Nokia Siemens Networks
Nokia Siemens Networks is a leading global enabler of telecommunications services. With its focus on innovation and sustainability, the company provides a complete portfolio of mobile, fixed and converged network technology, as well as professional services including consultancy and systems integration, deployment, maintenance and managed services. It is one of the largest telecommunications hardware, software and professional services companies in the world. Operating in 150 countries, its headquarters are in Espoo, Finland.
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http://connectivityscorecard.org/It should be noted that certain statements herein which are not historical facts, including, without limitation, those regarding: A) the timing of product, services and solution deliveries; B) our ability to develop, implement and commercialize new products, services, solutions and technologies; C) our ability to develop and grow our consumer Internet services business; D) expectations regarding market developments and structural changes; E) expectations regarding our mobile device volumes, market share, prices and margins; F) expectations and targets for our results of operations; G) the outcome of pending and threatened litigation; H) expectations regarding the successful completion of contemplated acquisitions on a timely basis and our ability to achieve the set targets upon the completion of such acquisitions; and I) statements preceded by "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "foresee," "target," "estimate," "designed," "plans," "will" or similar expressions are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management's best assumptions and beliefs in light of the information currently available to it. Because they involve risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from the results that we currently expect.
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15) our ability to protect the complex technologies, which we or others develop or that we license, from claims that we have infringed third parties' intellectual property rights, as well as our unrestricted use on commercially acceptable terms of certain technologies in our products, services and solutions;
16) our ability to protect numerous Nokia, NAVTEQ and Nokia Siemens Networks patented, standardized or proprietary technologies from third-party infringement or actions to invalidate the intellectual property rights of these technologies;
17) any disruption to information technology systems and networks that our operations rely on; 18) developments under large, multi-year contracts or in relation to major customers;
19) the management of our customer financing exposure;
20) our ability to retain, motivate, develop and recruit appropriately skilled employees;
21) whether, as a result of investigations into alleged violations of law by some former employees of Siemens AG ("Siemens"), government authorities or others take further actions against Siemens and/or its employees that may involve and affect the carrier-related assets and employees transferred by Siemens to Nokia Siemens Networks, or there may be undetected additional violations that may have occurred prior to the transfer, or violations that may have occurred after the transfer, of such assets and employees that could result in additional actions by government authorities;
22) any impairment of Nokia Siemens Networks customer relationships resulting from the ongoing government investigations involving the Siemens carrier-related operations transferred to Nokia Siemens Networks;
23) unfavorable outcome of litigations;
24) allegations of possible health risks from electromagnetic fields generated by base stations and mobile devices and lawsuits related to them, regardless of merit; as well as the risk factors specified on pages 11-28 of Nokia's annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2008 under Item 3D. "Risk Factors." Other unknown or unpredictable factors or underlying assumptions subsequently proving to be incorrect could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Nokia does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent legally required.
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