Nokia Expects ‘Meaningful Headwinds’ in 2021
Nokia reported its quarterly results, while also warning the company is facing “meaningful headwinds” in 2021.
The Finnish company reported Q4 revenue of 6.57 billion euros. While that beat estimates, it still represented a 5% decline from the previous year. The company did see increases in Enterprise net sales, as well as new partnerships with AT&T and Verizon. The company also announced a deal with the US government right after the quartered ended.
Looking ahead, however, the Nokia warned that 2021 would present challenges for the company.
“These are encouraging results, however, as I said in Q3, we expect 2021 to be challenging, a year of transition, with meaningful headwinds due to market share loss and price erosion in North America,” said Pekka Lundmark, President and CEO.
“Additionally, as I said, delivering on our new operating model for a strong and sustainable long-term business requires us to make further 5G R&D investments in 2021, meaning we will sacrifice some short-term margin to ensure leadership in 5G.”
Despite decreased competition from Huawei, Nokia has struggled to capitalize as effectively as Ericsson. The company’s woes even sparked talk of a possible merger or asset sale in early 2020.
2021 may turn out to be a make-or-break year for the Finnish company.
