Nokia Siemens Networks debuts at Barcelona 3GSM Congress

CEO Beresford-Wylie wants to cooperate with staff over personnel cuts

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Nokia Siemens Networks, a new company set up through the merger of the mobile telephone network divisions of Nokia and Siemens, has made a striking debut at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona. The new company’s logo was made public on Monday, and Siemens Nokia Networks already managed to secure a new order.
      The new company does not officially exist, however, as Nokia and Siemens are still sifting through the ongoing bribery case against Siemens in Germany.
      "The delay was naturally a great disappointment within the company, and certainly caused some frustration. However, it has not had any effect on business activities. We have only 600 customers, so it is easy for us to explain the situation to them", Simon Beresford-Wylie, the CEO of Nokia Siemens Networks said to Helsingin Sanomat in Barcelona.
      Beresford-Wylie said that the company was ready to start operations on schedule at the beginning of this year. Now he believes that the activities will begin in March.
      "The mother companies have said so, and we have no reason to believe that this would not happen. We are probably talking about the end of March."
     
Nokia Siemens has launched discussions with its European personnel on the product selection of the merged company. Beresford-Wylie says that customers had hoped for an early publication of the product range.
      The company plans to cut 6,000-9,000 jobs in the next four years.
      Negotiations on actual redundancies will begin after the company has officially been launched. "We have not gone through the locations. One cannot necessarily say on the basis of product choices, which locations will be affected by the cuts. We plan to be very sensitive to the views of personnel as the negotiations move ahead", Beresford-Wylie says.
     
At their press conference Nokia and Siemens said that choices of products and locations hinge on many factors, such as how extensively the various products are used today, and on the profitability of the units that make them.
      The CEO seemed to hint that the cuts will have a painful effect on Europe.
      "In this field as well, product development needs to be close to the customers", he said, noting taht the customers increasingly focus on Asia."
     
Ericsson, the market leader in mobile telephone networks, held a press conference of its own on Monday. In terms of size, Nokia Siemens will come close to Ericsson after the merger.
      The two giants are engaged in fierce rivalry, which at times comes close to reaching comical elements. For instance, both companies declared themselves to be market leaders in IMS technology, which moves packages of content between fixed and wireless networks. Both also said that they had been the first to put forward LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology.
      Ericsson says that the contradiction can be explained by the fact that the companies attatch slightly different meanings to the words.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Announcing record result, Nokia reiterates faith in Siemens deal (26.1.2007)
  Nokia and Siemens postpone merger over corruption investigation (15.12.2006)

Links:
  3GSM World Congress website

Helsingin Sanomat