Nokia says will re-enter mobile, tablet markets

Company will grant HMD Global the global licence to create Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets for the next 10 years

Finnish telecom equipment maker Nokia said today it plans a global comeback into its former goldmine of handsets and tablets, by licensing its brand to a newly-created Finnish company.

Nokia "will grant HMD Global Ltd the exclusive global licence to create Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets for the next 10 years," the world's former number one handsets company said in a statement.

As part of the process, HMD Global and its Taiwanese partner, FIH Mobile of FoxConn Technology Group, will take over Microsoft's feature phone business for $350 million ,which it had bought from Nokia in 2014, the US company said in a separate statement.

Nokia was the world's top mobile phone maker between 1998 and 2011 but was overtaken by South Korean rival Samsung after failing to respond to the rapid rise of smartphones.

In 2011, it chose to bet on the Windows mobile platform, which proved to be a failure. The new product portfolio will be based on Android.

The Finnish company sold its handset unit to Microsoft in 2014 for some $7.2 billion which dropped using the Nokia name on its Lumia smartphones.

The conditional deal between Microsoft and Nokia's new brandlicensing partners is expected to close in the second half of 2016.

Nokia said the new Finnish company, HMD Global, is a private venture in which Nokia will not hold equity.
Together, these agreements will make HMD the sole global licensee for all types of Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets, it added.

Once the Microsoft transaction is closed, HMD will be led by Arto Nummela as CEO, who previously held senior positions at Nokia and is currently the head of Microsoft's mobile devices business for Greater Asia, Middle-East and Africa as well as Microsoft's global feature phones business.

Nokia Technologies will take a seat on the board of directors of HMD and set mandatory brand requirements and performance related provisions to ensure all Nokia-branded products meet consumer expectations of Nokia devices, including quality, design and consumer focused innovation.