Nokia unveiled a new leadership team and organisational structure for the company that will result from the planned merger with Alcatel-Lucent that is expected to be completed in the first half of 2016.
The new combined company will be split into four business groups aligned by technology. Other positions have also been named to complete a 13-strong leadership team, of which 10 members will come from Nokia, Reuters noted.
The four divisions will be mobile networks, fixed networks, applications and analytics, and IP/optical networks, and will be grouped into the "Networks" business unit for financial reporting. Nokia Technologies will remain as a separate entity and will continue to be led by Ramzi Haidamus as president of the division.
Mobile networks will include the radio portfolios of both companies and most of their core network portfolios including IMS and voice over IP (VoLTE) and subscriber data management, as well as the related global services business. The designated president of the division is Samih Elhage, currently EVP and chief financial operating officer at Nokia Networks.
Fixed networks will largely comprise the current fixed-networks business of Alcatel-Lucent and will be led by Federico Guillén in the position of president. Guillén currently serves as president of fixed networks at Alcatel-Lucent. Bhaskar Gorti, currently president of IP platforms at Alcatel-Lucent, has been designated as president of applications and analytics, which will combine the software and data analytics-related operations of both companies.
Finally, IP/optical networks will combine the current Alcatel-Lucent IP routing, optical transport and IP video businesses, as well as the software defined networking (SDN) start-up, Nuage, plus Nokia's IP partner and packet core portfolio. Designated president is Basil Alwan, who currently serves as president of IP routing and transport, Alcatel-Lucent.
Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri -- who is also to be CEO of the new combined group -- said the goal is to position each business group for clear leadership in its particular market.
"We aim for all our business groups to be innovation leaders, drawing on the combined company's unparalleled R&D capabilities to deliver leading products and services for our customers, and ultimately ensure the company's long-term value creation," Suri said.
Other appointments include Nokia CFO Timo Ihamuotila as the future CFO of the combined company; Nokia Networks chief business officer Ashish Chowdhary as future chief customer operations officer; and Nokia Networks mobile broadband EVP Marc Rouanne as the combined group's chief innovation and operating officer.
Nokia human resources EVP Hans-Jürgen will retain this role in the new group, while Kathrin Buvac, currently VP of corporate strategy at Nokia, will become chief strategy officer. Nokia CMO Barry French will be retained as CMO, and Nokia chief legal officer Maria Varsellona will also continue in this role in future.
Nokia did not mention what roles Nokia Networks CTO Hossein Moiin or Alcatel-Lucent CTO Marcus Weldon will have in the combined company, especially given Rouanne's position. However, Nokia spokesman Brett Young told FierceWireless:Europe tha the announcement is about the new organization and those directly reporting to Suri.
"There's more to come as integration planning continues; we can't talk about specific individuals, but the positions named today are not the only senior ones that there will be in the company," he said. "Today's announcement is all we can say for the moment, but I'd like to stress here that Nokia will continue to be an innovation powerhouse with Bell Labs and FutureWorks, not to mention the team we have in Nokia Technologies."
Nokia stressed that all proposed changes would only be implemented after the successful closing of the public exchange offer, noting that it is now holding 50 per cent of the Alcatel-Lucent share capital on a fully diluted basis. The €15.6 billion ($17.55 billion) acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent is expected to be closed in the first half of next year.
It was also confirmed that Alcatel-Lucent had decided not to sell its undersea cable business Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks (ASN), which is expected to be operated by Nokia as a separate entity.
For more:
- see the Nokia release
- see this Reuters article
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Phil Goldstein contributed additional reporting.