Nokia and Siemens merge infrastructure biz

Siemens and Nokia are putting their telecom divisions together, continuing a consolidation in the infrastructure business and creating a European tech behemoth. The Finnish Nokia is best known for his cellular handsets, but about 20 percent of the company's €34 billion in sales comes from GSM infrastructure equipment. Siemens's telecom business, based in Germany, is a leader in the fixed-network business and claims to be the number one vendor of fixed-network IMS switches. The combined company, to be called Nokia Siemens Networks, will be equally owned by the two parents but will be headquartered in Finland. Nokia will have a majority of directors. Pro forma sales for the combined company for 2005 were €15.8 billion. Pending regulatory approval, the companies expect the venture to close before the end of this year.

For more information about the Siemens/Nokia deal:
- read this article from the AP