Nokia secures €500 million EU loan for 5G research

European Investment Bank (EIB), under the Investment Plan for Europe, also known as the Juncker Plan after the current President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, signed with Nokia a half a billion euro loan transaction for accelerating the research and development of 5G. The Finnish telecommunications giant Nokia is one of the leaders in developing and standardizing the next generation networks, alongside companies like Qualcomm, Huawei and Ericsson.

This loan is significant because it will allow Nokia to speed up R&D for 5G at a time where revenue is falling, because operators are waiting for 5G upgrade cycle. Nokia’s end-to-end portfolio helps the company secure contracts bigger in value, opening doors for long term cooperation with operators, but also with internet companies. 5G isn’t about mobile data on our phones, but much more, including self driving cars, IoT, automation, AI etc.

“The loan, which extends Nokia’s debt maturity profile, has an average maturity of approximately five years after disbursement, which can take place at any time during the next 18 months,” ends the press release.

Source: Nokia