Nokia CEO Highlights Dependence on Indian Talent and Market Amidst 5G Expansion Plans, ETTelecom

NEW DELHI: Global technology companies, including Nokia, are dependent on India as a market and its local talent, according to the Finnish gear maker’s chief executive and president, Justin Hotard.

“There’s a phenomenal opportunity for Europe and hopefully for us as a part of that, to be a more balanced and thoughtful participant and bridge the global South,” Hotard said during a media briefing with Finnish President Alexander Stubb ahead of the opening of Nokia’s new research campus in Oulu, Finland, on Friday.

“Where, by the way, it’s interesting with India, because every tech company in the world, including us, is incredibly dependent on the talent of India, and increasingly on the market of India,” he added, according to a report by SDxCentral.

Nokia had a headcount of 17,800 in India last year, and reported sales of 1,373 million euros. Globally, it had 78,400 employees.

In early August, he met India’s Union Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia to discuss ways to collaborate deeply for a more connected India.
The Finnish vendor has long-term 5G radio access network (RAN) contracts with India’s top private telecom incumbents, including Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea (Vi).

The three Indian telcos, in turn, also have 5G contracts with Nokia’s Swedish rival, Ericsson, as well as with South Korean Samsung and US-based Cisco.
Source: Nokia annual report for 2024. Nokia’s new research and development (R&D) manufacturing campus in Oulu will design, test, and deliver next-generation equipment – including 5G radio and baseband products – built for artificial intelligence (AI). The facility will have 3,000 engineers, who will also work on standardisation, system-on-chips (SoCs), 5G radio hardware and software and patents, innovative Massive MIMO radios, and 6G solutions.

Hotard, who joined the gear maker from Intel early this year, called on European officials to consider potentially removing “high-risk vendors”, such as China’s Huawei and ZTE, according to the report.

The chief executive said Nokia’s share in the Chinese market had fallen below 3%, and wondered why the latter’s vendors were free to operate in Europe, “particularly when they do not allow us to play in their markets”, as per the report.

Huawei is already banned from participating in 5G network infrastructure build-outs of several European countries, including the UK, Sweden, and Latvia. Most recently, Huawei and ZTE were barred from German 5G networks.

• Published On Sep 6, 2025 at 11:13 AM IST

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