(Bloomberg) – Investments in next-generation wireless networks will extend much longer than the 4G cycle, giving the oppressed Nokia Oyj time to catch up with rivals that have gone through it for initial launches, according to its president- executive.
The Finnish telecommunications equipment maker on Thursday presented an outline of how it plans to regain competitiveness by 2023, with CEO Pekka Lundmark cutting up to 10,000 jobs in two years to dump the money saved on new hires at 5G. The actions are necessary, but they are not a sign that Nokia would have missed the boat, he said.
Major fifth-generation network constructions will span “twice as long as the 4G peak” because of the digital industrial revolution they enable, Lundmark said in an interview on Thursday. “So, no, we are not late.”
Delays in the deployment of 5G in Europe will give Nokia time, which seeks to regain market share from Ericsson AB in Sweden and Huawei Technologies Co in China, which made gains at the beginning of the cycle. Errors in the design of the 5G device have been largely overcome, said Lundmark, who took over as CEO in August. Nokia is now increasing shipments of base stations that contain its most economical proprietary chip system.
“We were not so successful in the first phase of 5G, our product was not ready,” he said. “It is significantly more competitive now and we believe that when we finish this year, we will have restored our competitiveness.”
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