Nokia board of directors has appointed Rajeev Suri as president and CEO of Nokia Corporation, effective May 1, 2014. Suri joined Nokia in 1995 and has held a wide range of leadership positions in the company. Since October of 2009, he has served as CEO of NSN, the former joint venture between Nokia and Siemens that is now fully owned by Nokia. During his tenure as CEO, that business went through a radical transformation.

Risto Siilasmaa, chairman of the Nokia board, and who has also been serving as an interim CEO, will return to focusing exclusively on his role as chairman as of May 1, 2014.

Long-term leadership targeted in three key areas

Nokia believes that over the next 10 years billions of connected devices will converge into intelligent and programmable systems that will have the potential to improve lives in a vast number of areas: time and availability, transportation and resource consumption, learning and work, health and wellness, and many more.

This new world of technology will require 1) connectivity capable of handling massive numbers of devices and exponential increases in data traffic; 2) location services that seamlessly bridge between the real and virtual worlds; and 3) innovation, including in sensing, radio and low power technologies. Nokia’s vision is to be a leader over the long term in these three areas.

Nokia strategy

"Nokia’s strategy is to develop its three businesses in order to realise its vision of being a technology leader in a connected world and, in turn, create long-term shareholder value. Nokia will target the creation of long-term shareholder value by focusing on the following three areas:

Through its Networks business (formerly Nokia Solutions and Networks, or NSN), Nokia will invest in the innovative products and services needed by telecom operators to manage the increase in wireless data traffic, which is more than doubling every year. Future investment will focus on further building on the company’s strong position in mobile broadband and related services, and strengthening its leadership position in next-generation network technologies.

Through its HERE business, Nokia will invest to further develop its location cloud to make it the leading source of location intelligence and experiences across many different operating systems, platforms and screens. Given that location is an essential element of a connected world, Nokia will target its investment in three areas: 1) technology for smart, connected cars; 2) cloud-based services for personal mobility and location intelligence, including for the growing segment of wearables and special purpose devices; and 3) location-based analytics for better business decisions.

Through its Technologies business, Nokia will invest in the further development of its industry-leading innovation portfolio. This will include 1) expanding the successful intellectual property licensing program; 2) helping other companies and organisations benefit from Nokia’s breakthrough innovations through technology licensing; and 3) exploring new technologies for use in potential future products and services.

Ooredoo today announced that its Tunisian operations have fully adopted the global Ooredoo brand, as the company continues to make strong progress on launching the brand across the MENA region and South East Asia.

Ooredoo’s Tunisian operations join colleagues in Qatar, Algeria, the Maldives, and Myanmar in deploying the Ooredoo brand, following the global brand launch in February 2013. Tunisiana was Tunisia’s first privately-owned telecommunications company, launching in 2002, and successfully introduced the Ooredoo brand in Tunisia in July 2013.

Ooredoo is dedicated to driving technology innovation and enhancing the customer experience across Tunisia. As part of this strategy, Ooredoo is investing in high-speed networks, including the nationwide 3G mobile broadband network, and is rolling-out the next generation fibre network in central business districts.

NTT DoCoMo has announced that it is placing its entire 26.5 per cent stake in Indian mobile network operator Tata Teleservices (TTSL) up for sale.

NTT DoCoMo bought the stake in TTSL in 2008, and had a number of put-options in place, one of which enables it to force a sale of its stake if certain performance targets are not met.

The mobile network has struggled in recent years, and while the performance targets are not publicly known, it is widely thought that they were missed by a very large margin.

NTT DoCoMo said in a statement today that it will exercise the option to sell the stake, although at the moment it is unsure how that will proceed.

Under the terms of the agreement, it can force the mobile network to buy back its stake for 50 per cent of the acquisition price, which amounts to INR 72.5 billion (US$1.2 billion ) or a fair market price, whichever is higher.

However, the debt laden and poorly performing TTSL is unlikely to be in a strong enough position to be able to buy the shares back without negatively impacting the mobile network’s long term prospects.

NTT DoCoMo paid US$2.7 billion for its 26.5 per cent stake in 2008 and paid a further US$176 million in 2011 to maintain its holding when the company carried out a fund raising exercise.

Ericsson has reported a sharp decline in its first quarter sales with reductions in North America and Japan although profits rose substantially.

The company recorded first quarter revenues of SEK47.5 billion (US$7.2 billion), down by seven per cent on the previous year. Sales declined year-on-year, primarily in North America and Japan but partly offset by China, Middle East and Latin America.

The decline in sales impacted the Networks segment as well as the Global Services network rollout business.

However, net profit rose by 41 per cent to reach SEK1.7 billion. All segments also showed improved operating margins.

Gross margin increased year-on-year, primarily due to a business mix with a large share of mobile broadband capacity projects with higher hardware margins. Lower restructuring charges, increased IPR revenues and lower Network Rollout sales also contributed positively to the gross margin.

With current visibility, Ericsson warned that key contracts awarded will gradually impact sales and business mix, mainly in the second half of the year.

Political unrest prevails in parts of the Middle East and Africa and is still impacting sales. There is also an increased political uncertainty in Russia and the Ukraine. In 2013 Ericsson had SEK 5.9 billion worth of sales in Russia and Ukraine. The current political uncertainty has not impacted sales in the first quarter.

WhatsApp, the over-the-top (OTT) messaging service, has announced that it now has over 500 million active users.

In a short statement, the company said that in the last few months, it has grown fastest in countries like Brazil, India, Mexico, and Russia, and users are also sharing more than 700 million photos and 100 million videos every single day.

The OTT platform was founded only in February 2009, and had signed up 200 million users by February 2013. A little more than a year later, it has more than doubled to 500 million users.

It recently agreed to a takeover bid from Facebook that valued the company at US$19 billion, despite offering most of its services for free, or at most, a nominal charge of just US$1 per year.