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Nokia and Siemens keep NSN joint venture

German industrial giant Siemens and Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia will continue with their Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) venture after failing to find buyers for part of it, NSN said on Wednesday.

Published: 13 July 2011 17:24 CEST

Nokia and Siemens keep NSN joint venture

Photo: DPA

“Nokia and Siemens have reaffirmed their commitment and continue to be strong supporters of Nokia Siemens Networks,” NSN head Rajeev Suri said in a statement that added the company had completed a review of potential private equity investors.

“Nokia Siemens Networks plans to take further steps to improve the competitiveness of the company as a standalone entity,” the telecom networks company said.

The joint venture provides networking and telecommunications equipment and operates in more than 150 countries.

Wednesday’s statement follows a report in the Wall Street Journal last month that Nokia and Siemens had failed to find NSN investors and would thus hang onto the company, which has been through what were described as important restructuring efforts, over recent years.

After the announcement, Nokia stock fell briefly below €4 ($5.65), a low not seen since January 1998.

In Frankfurt, Siemens shares were up 1.54 percent to €94.01 ($133.03) in a market up 0.84 percent.

Founded in 2007, NSN has 60,000 employees and competes with Swedish giant Ericsson, US-French group Alcatel Lucent and Chinese firms ZTE and Huawei in the construction and operation of mobile phone and Internet networks.

AFP/mdm

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'We'll continue our protests': Environmental activists confront Siemens bosses in Munich

Demonstrators in Munich on Wednesday. Photo: DPA

Outraged by the group's sticking to a contract to supply rail equipment to a massive Australian coal mining project, demonstrators were rallying outside the Munich Olympiahalle ahead of the 10:00am kickoff.

A group of around 100 were on the scene from early in the morning, some forming a human chain.

Late Tuesday, Greenpeace had draped a banner from the company's headquarters reading “Bush fires start here”.

“We will continue our protests for as long as Siemens doesn't back down,” said Helena Marschall, a representative of the movement, at a Tuesday press conference.

Marschall herself is slated to speak inside the venue later Wednesday, while the demonstrators plan to urge the company to “abandon coal” at a larger protest in the afternoon.

Kaeser kept activists and observers on tenterhooks for weeks as he decided whether to uphold a contract with India's Adani group related to its Carmichael mine project in Australia.

In the end, he stuck to Siemens' agreement to supply the rail signalling equipment for the massive open-cast mine, not far from the iconic natural landmark of the Great Barrier Reef.

READ ALSO: Outrage in Germany as Siemens back Aussie mine project

'Fulfil contractual obligations'

Groups like Extinction Rebellion and Fridays for Future have homed in on the shareholder meeting as an opportunity to renew the pressure on Siemens.

“What's more important: a small financial loss in the short term, or the disastrous consequences such a project will have for generations?” Marschall said.

She and other environmentalists have been invited to speak inside the cordon by a group of Siemens shareholders.

In mid-January, CEO Kaeser met leading German Fridays for Future activist Luisa Neubauer after protests across the country against Siemens.

But he later said in a statement: “We must fulfil our contractual obligations” relating to the 18-million-euro ($22 million) deal.

Protesters at the meeting. Photo: DPA

“Only being a credible partner whose word counts also ensures that we can remain an effective partner for a greener future,” Kaeser insisted.

Nevertheless, the company plans to create a “Sustainability Committee” with powers to block environmentally questionable projects.

Siemens says it backs the 2015 Paris Agreement and aims to become carbon-neutral by 2030.

27 mn tonnes of coal

The open-cut Carmichael mine is set to become operational next year and produce up to 27 million tonnes of coal annually.

Adani spent years trying to secure private finance for the coal mine before announcing in 2018 it was self-financing a trimmed-down, $2 billion version of the project.

Supporters say the mine will bring hundreds of much-needed jobs to rural Queensland in eastern Australia.

But conservationists say the project threatens local vulnerable species and notes that the coal will have to be shipped from a port near the already damaged Great Barrier Reef.

Much of the coal from the mine will be burned in India, a country with some of the world's highest levels of air pollution.

By Ralf Isermann with Tom Barfield in Frankfurt

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