Nokia, once a powerhouse in the mobile phone market, has expanded its operations into the business-to-business (B2B) technology sector. According to the company CEO, despite the company’s ‘failure’ with the advent of smartphones, Nokia‘s past dominance in the mobile phone market still resonates with people globally.
“I meet people all the time when I travel in different parts of the world, asking what happened to the phones. They were obviously divested to Microsoft 10 years ago,” Nokia CEO Pekka Lundmark told Bloomberg.
“But when we are expanding to these new growth areas, it does help that people recognize the name Nokia. So that’s at least how you get to start the discussion,” he added.
He explained that this brand recognition provides a valuable starting point for Nokia as it expands into new areas, particularly in the B2B technology sector but the challenge lies in repositioning Nokia as a trusted partner for critical networks and a leader in B2B technology.
Why Nokia going beyond mobile and fixed networks to data centers
When asked why Nokia is now expanding beyond mobile and fixed networks into data centre technology space. As per Lundmark, one of Nokia’s key growth areas is the data center market, a sector worth tens of billions of dollars.
“We have currently defined about 20 billion euros ($21 billion) that’s addressable to us. The network operator market is 84 billion euros, roughly, but it’s not a growth market. Data center growth is around 30% per year. That’s why there is room for a player like us,” he said.
Nokia sees a significant opportunity in this market, particularly with the increasing demands placed on data centers by AI and cloud technologies. The company aims to provide solutions that address the growing need for safety, reliability, and programmability in data centers.
“We are now in the middle of the acquisition of Infinera, which will add about 3,000 specialists to Nokia. This is a Silicon Valley company that will further strengthen our offering to data centers. So this will be a key growth factor for us in the coming years,” he added.
