July 19 2010 - 1:06 pm ET | Tracy Ford | RCR Wireless News

Nokia Siemens Networks to increase U.S. customer base with Motorola purchase

Nokia Siemens Networks should be able to increase its presence in the United States and Japan with the announced acquisition of Motorola Inc.'s networks business. The $1.2 billion acquisition was hinted at last week. Motorola will retain its iDEN networks business.

Nokia Siemens will pick up Motorola's CDMA, GSM, wideband CDMA and LTE business, which counted sales of about $3.3 million in 2009. "We like to think we are buying at least part of the history of innovation at Motorola," said Rajeev Suri, CEO of NSN. "First and foremost, this deal is about customers," Suri noted. "We expect to gain an incumbent position with many of our customers. … Second the deal is about scale and building our presence in some regions." Suri noted that the merger will move NSN from the No. 5 in North America to No. 3, as well as strengthen its position in Japan, including a contract with KDDI Corp. Motorola also counts contracts with Verizon Wireless and Clearwire Corp., among others.  Read More