Nokia Siemens Networks on Friday confirmed it has completed the acquisition of certain wireless infrastructure assets from Motorola Solutions, closing the book on a sale that became contentious when Motorola partner Huawei initially didn't like what it saw.
Under the terms of the deal, Nokia Siemens pays $975 million in cash to Motorola Solutions, and also takes on responsibility for 50 operator customers in 52 countries. It also gains 6,900 Motorola employees and various research and development facilities located in the U.S., China, Russia, India and the United Kingdom.
It wasn't a deal without difficulty. Before splitting into Motorola Solutions and Motorola Mobility earlier this year, the former Motorola had in July 2010 announced the sale of wireless infrastructure business to Nokia Siemens for $1.2 billion. But Huawei filed suit against Motorola in January, attempting to delay the sale on grounds that it wouldn't properly protect Huawei's intellectual property.
Motorola had resold Huawei wireless network products as part of an agreement between the two companies dating back to 2000, and Huawei's concern was that confidential information would be made privy to Nokia Siemens. Huawei and Motorola settled in mid-April, with Huawei receiving a fee from Motorola to allow the transfer of Huawei contracts to Nokia Siemens. The amount of the fee has not been disclosed.
With the hurdles cleared, Nokia Siemens now gains control of much of Motorola Solutions' wireless infrastructure business, which means that as of April 30, Nokia Siemens is responsible for customers of Motorola Solutions' GSM, CDMA, WCDMA, WiMAX and LTE products and services.
"The people, customers and technology we've acquired greatly complement our existing business by taking us into new markets and broadening our market share," said Rajeev Suri, Nokia Siemens Networks CEO, in a statement. "Our combined knowledge and experience will provide our newly expanded customer base with the means to grow by providing greater value to their subscribers."
Nokia Siemens is a joint venture between Nokia and Siemens AG, and has sought to increase its North America footprint for some time. Based on revenue, the acquisition makes Nokia Siemens Networks the third largest wireless infrastructure vendor in the U.S., and the second largest wireless infrastructure vendor in the world, behind Ericsson. It has a sizable channel program primarily geared toward utilities, transportation, public sector and some enterprise business.
