Nokia Siemens Buys Motorola's Networking Arm

It might not be the same as splitting itself into two independent companies, but it's definitely a split for Motorola.

Two years ago, Motorola announced that it would spin off its mobile division creating a company separate from its infrastructure division. At the time, it was largely believed that this was an effort to cut off the floundering mobile arm and in doing so, prevent it from harming the rest of the company.

Though Motorola has seen significant success since that announcement in 2008, especially with its Droid line of smartphones, the company reiterated its intentions to split in February of this year, and said this move would be completed by the end of the year.

Today InformationWeek reports that, having failed to split itself in two, Motorola has instead opted to sell most of its network infrastructure unit. It was today announced that Nokia Siemens Networks acquired the majority of Moto's mobile network infrastructure unit for $1.2 billion.

Nokia Siemens said Monday that it hopes the acquisition will strengthen its position in the market.

"First and foremost, this deal is about customers," the New York Times quotes Rajeev Suri, chief executive of Nokia Siemens,  as saying during a conference call on Monday with reporters and investors. "We expect to gain an incumbent position with many new customers and strengthen our position with others."

Suri went on to say that the buy would make partnerships with China Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Sprint and Clearwire possible.

Further reading:

Information Week

New York Times