Last week, right before everyone went off to enjoy the long Thanksgiving weekend, Nokia Siemens Networks announced that they’d letting go 17,000 employees. That’s roughly 23% of their entire workforce as it stands today. What they didn’t mention was which units would get the axe. Thanks to Mobile Europe however, we now know. They managed to score an internal memo detailing which business units would get prioritized, which would be put on life support, and of course which folks should start looking for a new job. Here are the details, in full:
LEAD
Mobile Broadband and Customer Experience Management will be the lead businesses, where NSN will maintain or increase investments.ATTACH
Care and Network Implementation – both part of Global Services – will be attached closely to, and expected to perform in parallel with, NSN’s lead businesses.ADAPT
Managed Services and Consulting and Systems Integration – also both part of Global Services – will be adapted to meet NSN’s narrower portfolio and deliver greater profitability. Optical Networks will also be in this category, with a focus on building a strong base of select customers and leveraging its strong linkage to mobile broadband.EXIT or MAINTAIN
A wide range of other businesses – such as perfect voice (fixed-line VoIP), broadband access, WiMAX, narrowband, carrier Ethernet, business support systems (BSS), and communications and entertainment solutions (CES) – will be targeted for exit (possibly through divestment) or put in maintenance mode. Our recently announced plan to sell microwave transport to Dragonwave is an example of this approach.
When all is said and done NSN will be a lean, mean, wireless network building machine, but our concern is that many operators in Europe and Asia rely on the same company to build out both their fixed and wireless networks. That’s where Huawei, and especially Ericsson, can deliver some serious value by offering a complete package.