BARCELONA, Spain – Nokia Siemens Networks is looking to increase its presence in the North American wireless market, despite its current worldwide position as the No. 2 supplier of infrastructure equipment. The company, which missed out on a number of large-scale LTE network deployments currently being undertaken by Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility, has managed to nab some deals in Canada and sees continued evolution to the mobile broadband standard and rush to deploy smaller cells as a way to garner a broader foothold.
During a question and answer session at this week’s Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, Spain, NSN President of North America, Ricky Corker, explained that the company has placed a strong emphasis on regaining its place in the North American market, which it explained was necessary to show its leadership position in the mobile broadband space.
NSN CEO Rajeev Suri provided a worldwide overview of the company’s plans earlier at the event. Corker, who previously ran NSN’s Asia-Pacific operations, last year replaced former N.A. president Sue Spradley.
NSN announced late last year that it was selling off its fixed broadband business to Adtran, a deal that followed a major restructuring effort that was to include 17,000 job cuts
Corker explained that the job cuts were part of a strategy to re-focus its effort on the mobile broadband space as well as a rationalization of its Motorola acquisition that resulted in some overlap and the selling off of its WiMAX operations.
“Job cuts are part of a strategy … a need to transform the way you work,” Corker explained. “We just want to be mobile broadband player, and don’t want to be in a lot of other segments. … We don’t want to lose the ability to serve our customers, but need to do a better job with less.”
As for gaining a stronger presence in North America, Corker noted that one of the biggest challenges is meeting the needs of the fragmented spectrum position of operators in the market, especially as compared with other regions of the world. He also mentioned the robust demand smartphones are having on carrier networks and the need to extract as much potential as possible from current spectrum positions.
While NSN missed out on the initial LTE contracts from Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility, the carrier is hoping the recent announcement from T-Mobile USA regarding its LTE plans could provide a solid inroad into the U.S. market. NSN is currently a significant provider of HSPA-based technology to the carrier, which could provide it with an “in” with the carrier.
“It’s tough to be relevant in LTE with AT&T and Verizon, but there are other carriers to work with as well,” Corker explained.
North of the border, NSN has a strong presence in Bell Canada’s LTE deployment.
NSN also claims to be well positioned in the small cell space thanks to its legacy offerings as well as those acquired through Motorola. The small cell market has garnered a lot of attention at the Mobile World Congress event as operators around the world are looking to prepare their networks for the explosive demand in mobile data services.
“NSN has always has a strong metro- and macrocell portfolio, and from Motorola we were able to add femto, pico and microcells,” Corker explained, adding that he thought that market would begin to gain traction with North American carriers beginning later this year with continued evolution through 2013.
Corker also explained that the company’s deal to provide LTE equipment to ill-fated LightSquared is basically on hold pending the company’s ability to gain access to its spectrum. Corker noted that NSN has provided some equipment to the enterprise, though it appears that the original $7 billion deal was diluted thanks to LightSquared’s plans to partner with Sprint Nextel on its now on-hold network plans.
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