In Ericsson’s wake, it is Nokia’s turn to pack. The Finnish telecom giant announced in a press release on Tuesday that it was leaving Russia. This decision is the result of the war in Ukraine and the deterioration of relations between Moscow and the Old Continent. † It was clear to Nokia from the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine that it would not be possible to maintain our presence in Russia.”said Pekka Lundmark, the boss of the Finnish group, on Twitter.
This decision comes the day after that of his rival, thethe Swedish Ericsson, who also chose to suspend “indefinitely” its activities in the country. Nokia has about 2,000 employees in Russia, of which about 200 are in research and development. But unlike Ericsson, who decided to put its 600 employees on paid leave, Nokia will secede from its troops.
“Unfortunately, job losses are inevitable under these circumstancesa spokeswoman told AFP. However, for some positions outside of Russia, we offer transfers. The safety and well-being of our employees is our top priority and we want to implement these changes in an orderly manner. †
Russia weighs less than 2% of group turnover
Nokia will make a provision of 100 million euros in the accounts for the first quarter, the results of which will be announced at the end of the month. The Finnish group emphasizes that Russia weighs less than 2% of its total turnover. He says he is maintaining his financial forecasts for this year † due to high demand in other regions”† In the afternoon, the group’s share lost 1% to EUR 4.88 on the Helsinki stock exchange in a market that fell slightly (-0.1%).
With the departure of Nokia and Ericsson, there are no longer any European telecom equipment manufacturers in Russia. That leaves a highway for Huawei, China’s champion in telecom equipment, which is expected to clear the lion’s share in that country from the rollout of 4G and 5G networks. The Shenzhen group, still suffering from severe US sanctions, has been forced out of many markets. This is the case in the United States, but also in many European countries.
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