Nokia finalises Nokia Siemens purchase

Helsinki - Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia said on Wednesday it had finalised the purchase of German engineering giant Siemens' 50% stake in Nokia Siemens Networks, and changed the company's name.

The fully-owned Nokia subsidiary will now be known as Nokia Solutions and Networks, retaining the same acronym NSN.

Announcing the €1.7bn acquisition in July, Nokia said it hoped to create value for shareholders and said it planned to strengthen NSN to become a more independent unit.

NSN, which is specialised in high-speed mobile broadband, was set up as a joint venture in 2007, a partnership that expired in April. The unit has posted stronger earnings than Nokia's mobile phone business, which has struggled to compete against rivals Apple and Samsung.

NSN posted a net profit of 8.0 million euros in the second quarter, compared to Nokia's net loss of €227m in the same period.

Financial news agency Bloomberg meanwhile reported on Wednesday that NSN is mulling plans to cut 8 500 jobs, representing a sixth of its workforce. Nokia was unavailable for comment.