Cloud computing units of big technology companies such as
Microsoft and Amazon are also tying up with telecoms vendors ahead of
deployment of 5G infrastructure to corner a share in new businesses the new
technology might enable.
While Nokia will bring its 5G expertise, Google Cloud will
serve as the platform for launching applications and assist customers in
building an ecosystem of services.
"We will start to see some of these things to get in
the live environment by end of this year," Amol Phadke, Managing Director
at Google Cloud told Reuters.
He added that the timeline for the availability of the
services would depend on telecom operators.
In October last year, Nokia chief executive Pekka Lundmark
overhauled the Finnish company's 5G strategy. Announcing a new strategy under
which the company will have four business groups, Lundmark said Nokia would
"do whatever it takes" to take the lead in 5G where it lags Swedish
rival Ericsson and Chinese group Huawei.
"We expect to stabilise our financial performance in
2021 and deliver progressive improvement towards our long-term goal after
that," Lundmark said in a statement.
The company also cut its 2020 operating margin forecast to 9
percent from 9.5 percent and for 2021 expects operating margin of 7-10 percent.
JP Morgan analysts said higher research and development
spending was likely to drive the margins lower than the consensus expectations
of 10.9 percent for 2021. "Nokia is likely to find raising operating
margins challenging due to its relatively low market share, Liberum analysts
said in a note.
© Reuters