NSN: Not going bust, but will grow market share, states CEO

Having only had the job for a few weeks, Nokia Siemens Networks' CEO, Rajeev Suri, has strongly rebutted rumours that the company is on the verge of going bust, and stated that it has the capabilities to grow faster than the overall infrastructure and services market next year.

While some might see this as a bold target given the growing strength of the competition, Unstrung reported that Suri claims NSN can recapture some of the ground lost to the likes of Huawei, ZTE and Ericsson.

""We are seeing some stability... It's too early to call it a recovery," but NSN is seeing a return to Capex spending by operators in Asia/Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, and in Russia where spending had declined notably, stated Suri.

He noted in particular that there are new professional services opportunities in markets such as Australia, Russia and Japan. The CEO maintained that NSN has a strong position in these markets, including 16,000 involved in managed services engagements.

Commenting on how NSN will grow its equipment market share, Suri said the company would be more aggressive than elsewhere for winning deals in key markets, such as India, Brazil, US, China, Russia and Japan. However, it was not prepared to dump prices to win deals on these markets, "We will continue to have deal discipline," he said

NSN has confirmed that it aims to gain market share in a flat market with its operating profit margin to reach 2 per cent, at best. Its ailing rival Alcatel-Lucent is targeting a 5 per cent operating profit margin next year, while it sees the market growing a maximum of 5 per cent.

On a positive note, Suri said that NSN would unveil its fourth order for new LTE network technology shortly.

For more on this story:
Unstrung and Reuters

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