Earlier yesterday we reported that Nokia was in talks to acquire French telecom equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent. Well it looks like the deal is now official as the Finnish company has officially announced that they will be acquiring Alcatel-Lucent for €15.6 billion which is around $16.6 billion when converted. This is also essentially more than double the amount Microsoft had paid for Nokia’s mobile division back in 2013.As part of the acquisition, Nokia will also be gaining Alcatel-Lucent’s Bell Laboratories along with numerous patents that should make Nokia’s patent portfolio even more impressive than before. With this acquisition, the company is hoping that “the combined company will be in a position to accelerate development of future technologies including 5G… as well as sensors and imaging.”
It should be noted that the acquisition does not mean that Nokia will be jumping into the smartphone business. The Alcatel brand that makes smartphones is a separate joint venture between Alcatel-Lucent and China’s TCL, so for now it looks like Nokia will remain behind the scenes when it comes to creating products aimed at the smartphone user, like their HERE Maps services.
Nokia had initially only wanted to purchase the company’s wireless business but was rebuffed by Alcatel’s boss, ultimately leading to the much larger acquisition. Assuming the deal is approved by the regulatory bodies, it is expected to officially conclude and finalize in the first half of 2016.