Nokia phone designer raises $230m for 5G
HMD Global, the Finnish designer of Nokia phones, has raised $230m for the development of 5G phones.
The company, which works closely with Google, is set to launch its first 5G phone later this year, manufactured by contract manufacturer Foxconn.
Alongside the 5G development for the US market, the investment from Google, Qualcomm and Nokia Technologies will help HMD move beyond hardware to being a service provider. Earlier this year it launched an international data roaming service called HMD Connect, enhanced its mobile cybersecurity capabilities with the acquisition of assets of Valona Labs, and built dedicated resources on software, security and services with a new research and development Centre of Excellence in Tampere, Finland.
“Since the very beginning, HMD Global has worked to build strong bonds with our strategic partners. This additional investment further validates our long-term business strategy and is evidence of our collective mission to make modern mobile technology accessible to everyone,” said Florian Seiche, CEO of HMD Global. “Security, reliability and dependability are the cornerstones of our offering and we will ensure we are using these funds to deliver the best experiences people have come to expect from a Nokia phone. As the only major European smartphone manufacturer, we remain true to our Finnish roots and the hallmarks that our customers trust Nokia phones to be synonymous with.”
The Nokia 8.3 5G is based around the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G Modular Platform and supports over 40 different RF components in a single module, running from 600MHz up to 3.8GHz.
Since the company began its operations in 2016 with the acquisition of Microsoft’s phone business and a $100m investment, HMD Global is now active in 91 markets across 8 regions and 250,000 retail outlets and has sold over 240 million phones to date.
Nokia originally sold its phone business to Microsoft in 2014, and didn’t take a stake in HMD at the re-launch, as it also owns the Alcatel phone brand after acquiring AT&T/Alcatel/Lucent and these are made by another contract manufacturer, TCL.
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