Nokia Pulls Out Of Russia Due To The Ongoing War Between Russia And Ukraine, Ends Construction Of 5G Launch Sites

The war between Ukraine and Russia continues to spread. Following the earlier announcement by telecommunications service provider Ericsson to suspend business in Russia indefinitely, today (April 12) Nokia also said it would withdraw from the Russian market.

According to Reuters, although many international companies have successively boycotted Russia, some industries have not imposed sanctions for humanitarian reasons. And Nokia said that withdrawing from Russia is their only option.

Nokia CEO Pekka Lundmark said that under the current circumstances, they do not see any possibility of a continued presence in Russia.

At the same time, Nokia announced that it will not implement the plan to set up a joint venture with Russia’s YADRO to build 4G and 5G signal transmission stations.

The decision to withdraw will affect its nearly 2,000 employees, some of whom may be able to move to work elsewhere. While Nokia will continue to provide support to customers during the withdrawal period, it is unclear at this stage how long it will take to completely withdraw.

Nokia and Ericsson’s market share in Russia is only a low single-digit percentage; while Chinese companies such as Huawei and ZTE have a larger market share in the local market.

Nokia does not expect this decision to affect their prospects in 2022, but will also provide a funding reserve of about 100 million euros in the first quarter of this year to cover possible losses.