Nokia India net sales rise 22% on-year to nearly Rs 4,177 crore in Q4 2024

Finnish telecom gear maker Nokia on Thursday reported a 22% on-year rise in its India net sales to 463 million euros (about Rs 4,177.2 crore) in the fourth quarter of 2024, helped by its Network Infrastructure business, which offset a decline in Mobile Networks.

Nokia’s net sales in India – under the Asia Pacific (APAC) region – were up by 20% year-on-year in the reporting quarter on a constant currency basis. The vendor had reported net sales of 379 million euros in India in the corresponding period a year ago (Q4 2023).

However, between Q1 2024 and Q4 2024, Nokia’s net sales in India fell sharply by 52% year-on-year to 1,373 million euros, compared to 2,842 million euros a year ago.

“(Company’s) net sales in APAC increased in the fourth quarter, driven by Network Infrastructure growth in India which offset a decline in Mobile Networks,” Nokia said in its earnings statement.

Nokia’s Network Infrastructure business comprises its home broadband and optical transmission equipment business, which serves mostly enterprises, governments and webscalers, among others, while Mobile Networks involves the supply of telecom equipment for telcos’ retail networks such as 4G and 5G.

Net sales in the Mobile Networks unit fell by 1% year-on-year to 2,431 million euros in Q4 2024, which Nokia attributed to the Asia Pacific region. By contrast, Network Infrastructure net sales increased 19% year-on-year in the fourth quarter to 2,031 million euros.

“Within APAC, the net sales decline in India moderated, while the rest of APAC and Greater China declined at double-digit rates,” Nokia said of the Mobile Networks unit.

In the December 2024 quarter, Nokia’s group sales increased by 10% year-on-year on a reported basis, positively impacted by foreign exchange rate fluctuations. However, its full-year 2024 net sales declined 9% year-on-year, of which Nokia attributed 7 percentage points to India.

Its rival – Swedish Ericsson – last week reported a 28% year-on-year fall in sales to 8.4 billion crowns (Rs 6,636 crore) in the Southeast Asia, Oceania and India region in the fourth quarter of 2024 as top Indian telecom carriers Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel scaled back their 5G investments.

In late 2024, Bharti Airtel also awarded multi-year extension contracts to Ericsson and Nokia to expand 4G and 5G coverage in the country.

Meanwhile, the European vendors along with South Korea’s Samsung also won 4G modernisation and 5G equipment supply deals worth $3.6 billion from India’s Vodafone Idea (Vi). The telecom joint venture between Aditya Birla Group and the UK’s Vodafone Group Plc is expected to commence its 5G deployments in 17 key circles from March 2025.

“Looking further ahead into 2025, we expect the improved trends we have seen in Network Infrastructure in the second half of this year, to sustain and drive strong growth,” Pekka Lundmark, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Nokia said in the earnings report.

“End markets in Mobile Networks are improving and we currently assume largely stable net sales,” he said, adding that despite the market volatility in 2024, the company’s results demonstrate the responsiveness and capacity of Nokia to execute in all market conditions.