Once considered little more than a forced and unhappy marriage, Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) is now being seen as becoming increasingly competitive.
With Ericsson and Huawei positioned firmly as the No. 1 and No. 2 in the equipment supplier ranking, NSN is said to be easing away from Alcatel-Lucent and ZTE and establishing itself as the clear No. 3 infrastructure provider. Industry observers claim that the company is now one of the most aggressive bidders, winning an increasing number of deals, and regaining some of the market share it lost in UMTS.
One reason credited for this rejuvenation is the replacement in September of Simon Beresford-Wylie as CEO by Rajeev Suri. In the quarter ended 30 September 2009, Beresford-Wylie had to report that the struggling company had seen net sales decline 21 per cent to €2.8 billion from €3.5 billion a year earlier.
The appointment of Suri is considered a more forceful approach to winning business, and expectations have been raised that NSN second quarter results should show the company is making headway.
The issue for all equipment vendors is the shift by operators demanding significantly more equipment while not increasing their capex budgets. This trend has provoked some analysts to believe there will only be room for two to three big players, together with a few specialist or regional players.
For more:
- read this story from the Wireless Federation
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