Nokia Networks faces slow revenue in 2019 despite 5G deals

Nokia Networks business reported revenue of 6.215 billion euros (+7 percent) in Q4 2018 and 20.523 billion euros (–2 percent) in 2018.
Nokia revenue 2018Nokia has generated 2.654 billion euros (+7 percent) from Ultra Broadband Networks, 1.765 billion euros (+7 percent) from Global Services and 1.795 billion euros (+5 percent) from IP Networks and Applications in the fourth quarter of 2018.

“I expect Nokia’s performance to strengthen for the full year 2019 versus 2018 and our view of a fast and meaningful shift to 5G remains unchanged. Given that 5G rollouts will be staggered over the course of the year, we expect 2019 to have a soft first half followed by a robust second half,” Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri said.

Nokia did not reveal the number of 5G deals it won in 2018. Ericsson said it grabbed 10 commercial deals for its 5G network. Huawei said it has 30 deals for supplying 5G mobile network to telecoms.

Nokia said it noticed strong customer engagement related to 5G across radio, cloud core, transport, IP routing and network agnostic software.

Nokia’s total revenue was 6.869 billion euros (+3 percent) in Q4 2018 and 22.563 billion euros (–3 percent) in 2018.

Nokia’s 33 percent of total revenue came from North America, 21 percent from Europe, 19 percent from Asia Pacific, 10 percent from Greater China, 9 percent from Middle East and Africa and 7 percent from Latin America.

Nokia said Networks business’s spending towards operating expenses were higher due to trials related to 5G, as well as higher pre-sales expenses to drive future growth and higher returns.
Nokia Network business revenue 2018Nokia deployed its 5G site for South African operator, rain, with the full rollout of Nokia’s AirScale radio access network solution scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2019.

Telenor will deploy Nokia’s AirGile cloud-native core solution to transform the operator’s mobile network operations in Denmark, Sweden and Norway as it prepares for 5G in those markets. Telenor later said it will select a 5G vendor after its 5G pilots.

Lebanon’s Alfa will roll out Nokia’s 4.5G Pro technology using Nokia’s 5G-ready AirScale radio platform. The development moves Alfa toward providing IoT services and deploying Lebanon’s first 5G network planned for 2019.

Brazil’s Oi signed an agreement with Nokia to increase network speed and capacity and to enhance mobile and fixed broadband service performance in Brazil, while preparing for 5G.

Nokia helped Hutchison 3 Indonesia increase network efficiency on the operator’s LTE network and boost customer experience, using Nokia AVA cognitive services platform. Ovum, rated Nokia as having the best competitive position among LTE and 5G RAN vendors.

Nokia Software has received orders from AT&T, Bharti Airtel, Colombia Telecoms, KDDI, Rakuten, Reliance, STC, Telkom Kenya, T-Mobile, Togocel, and Verizon.

Baburajan K