Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), the prospective buyer of Nortel Networks’ (NT) wireless assets, has work to do once the deal closes – that is, if NSN isn’t outbid by another company before the end of July.
CDMA subscribership is growing in Africa, China and India, especially, and LTE is gaining ground worldwide. That puts NSN in a solid 3G and 4G position; the Europe-based joint venture has no experience in CDMA but it is a strong LTE player. And the lack of CDMA focus, with any luck, won’t be an issue: NSN has agreed to take on at least 2,500 Nortel employees.
Troubles could come in other areas, though, and operators want to know what to expect from NSN ownership of Nortel technology. Perhaps the biggest question is whether NSN can and will integrate Nortel products and people smoothly. Providers might need a lot of reassurance on this point from NSN, which already has had problems with integration. Current Analysis Research Director Peter Jarich recommends NSN weigh market opportunities against the value of quick integration because such an undertaking “wouldn’t be done overnight.”
“If it’s something they can do fairly quickly, that’s a good thing,” Jarich said. But if combining gear and workers took two years or more, new technologies and standards will have been developed and NSN will find itself left behind.
Nadine Manjaro, mobile networks senior analyst at ABI Research, agreed.
“Take Nortel as it was, continue efforts and integrate over time,” she said. “If they try to gain synergies right away, there are going to be some issues.”
What operators can expect, then, is major changes on the 3G/4G competitive landscape. Just how everything comes together remains unknown.
