Samsung may buy Nokia's mobile network infrastructure business, according to a new report. It was recently reported that there are talks about selling Nokia's mobile network business to Samsung. If so, Samsung will become a major global player in the network infrastructure market.
By buying Nokia's mobile network business, Samsung could become a major global player
According to a report by Bloomberg on Yahoo Business, Samsung is looking to buy Nokia's telecommunications equipment business. Nokia has been struggling to compete with other major players such as Ericsson and HUAWEI over the past few years. Therefore, Nokia has discussed all possible options with its advisors, including selling some or all of the unit or merging with one of its competitors.
While Nokia has not yet made a decision, its telecommunications equipment business is said to be worth $10 billion. Samsung Electronics has shown interest in acquiring Nokia's mobile business to improve its Radio Access Network (RAN) segment. RAN connects phones to the rest of the telecommunications infrastructure.
Samsung Networks, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, is one of the world's leading telecom network infrastructure companies but still lags behind Ericsson and HUAWEI. If Samsung successfully acquires Nokia's mobile network business, its RAN market share would jump to 25.6% from 6.1% last year, making it the world's second-largest RAN supplier.
Samsung has been manufacturing 4G and 5G base stations, chips, devices, radios and core equipment. The company has supplied equipment to mobile network companies around the world, including Telus in Canada, O2 Telefónica in Germany, Reliance Jio in India, KDDI and NTT DoCoMo in Japan, Dish and Verizon in the United States, and Vodafone in the United Kingdom.