Nokia plans to raise full-year outlook, citing strong second quarter

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Nokia said on Tuesday it planned to raise its full-year outlook as business picked up pace in the second quarter, improving its expectations for the year.

The telecom equipment maker, which will provide the new outlook on July 29 while reporting second-quarter results, had earlier projected 2021 net sales of between 20.6 billion euros ($24.43 billion) to 21.8 billion.

Nokia had been struggling against Nordic rival Ericsson as product missteps in the early stages of 5G hampered growth and led to changes in its top management.

But under the management of Pekka Lundmark, Nokia has been regaining lost grounds by making changes in its operating model, cutting costs, laying of thousands of staff and forging new partnerships with technology and telecom companies.

"Our first half performance has shown evidence of this in good cost control and also benefited from strength in a number of our end markets," CEO Lundmark said in a statement.

A spokeswoman declined to give further details.

The company also got a boost as the retreat of Huawei from several European markets gave it access to newer markets and a tussle between the Swedish government and Huawei will likely see Nokia getting more 5G business in China later this year.

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(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee, European Technology & Telecoms Correspondent, based in Stockholm, Essi Lehto in Helsinki; Editing by Johan Ahlander and Niklas Pollard)