THE WRAP: Huawei stops NSN-Moto deal; Ericsson grows profits 500%

This week Huawei halted the NSN-Moto deal, while a flurry of results saw Ericsson and Nokia grow profits in 2010.
 
Just when it appeared Nokia Siemens Networks was about to finally close its $1.2 billion (€879 million) acquisition of Motorola’s infrastructure business, Huawei won a preliminary injunction blocking the deal. 
 
NSN cut its operating losses in 2010, as parent Nokia reported a €1 billion rise in annual profits to €1.3 billion.
 
Rival Ericsson also enjoyed a bumper 2010 with profits up 500% to €492 million. The bulk of its growth was driven by handset joint venture Sony Ericsson’s first annual profit since 2007.
 
Telefonica formed a mobile payments joint venture with Mastercard in Brazil, while Portugal Telecom leapt back into the market with a move to acquire 22% of Oi for €3.6 billion.
The European carriers face a European Commission probe of an anti-competition arrangement agreed as part of their 2010 Brasilcel deal.
 
France Telecom made another play towards becoming a content aggregator and distributor, opening talks to acquire 49% of online video firm Dailymotion for €58.8 million.
 
Gartner predicted mobile app downloads will more than double to 17.7 billion in 2011, generating €11 billion in revenues, however rival Informa Telecoms & Media forecast SMS will remain a major source of data revenues for the next five years.
 
Rising sales of MSM chipsets fuelled a 39% increase in Qualcomm’s net income to €851 million in calendar 4Q – the firm’s fiscal 1Q11.
 
Australian incumbentTelstra and PCCW announced plans to restructure their subsea cable joint venture, Reach. Telstra expects an accounting gain of up to A$150 million (€108 million) as a result.
 
SK Telecom revealed Samsung, LG-Ericsson and NSN will supply base stations for its LTE network.
 
Meanwhile, CSL CMO Mark Liversidge warned cellcos not to undervalue LTE at the start the way they did with 3G services.
 
LG Electronics reported its biggest loss in two years partly due to weaknesses in the mobile division.
 
And finally, it was the week where we all learned that the first smartphone to go into space will be an Android phone.