https://www.laestrella.com.pa/economia/220412/empresa-telecomunicaciones-finlandesa-nokia-retira-rusia

Nokia will leave Russia and lay off some of its 2,000 employees in that country, the Finnish telecommunications company announced on Tuesday.

The announcement by the Nordic giant that employs 90,000 people worldwide comes a day after its Swedish rival Ericsson decided to indefinitely suspend its activities in Russia.

The mobile telecommunications network provider, which had already suspended supplies to the country in early March, “may now announce that it will leave the Russian market,” a statement said.

Nokia has 2,000 employees in Russia, of which some 200 work in the research and development sector, a spokeswoman told AFP.

“Unfortunately, under these circumstances redundancies are unavoidable. However, for some positions outside of Russia we will propose transfers,” he said in an email.

The decision will lead to a provision of 100 million euros ($108 million) in Nokia’s first-quarter accounts, due to be published later this month, the group said.

Russia accounted for “less than 2%” of Nokia’s revenue in 2021 and the group said it will maintain its financial guidance for 2022 “due to strong demand in other regions”.

On Monday, Swedish rival Ericsson announced it was suspending operations in Russia indefinitely and putting its 600 employees on furlough.

The departure of the two Western heavyweights leaves the way clear for the world number one in the sector, Huawei. The three groups share most of the market for the installation of 4G and 5G networks around the world.

Hundreds of mainly Western companies have announced the suspension of their activities or their departure from Russia since the invasion of Ukraine on February 24 and the subsequent sanctions against Moscow.