Nokia to stop supporting Indian BSNL due to payments dues

Nokia is a well-respected brand in India, not only because of its mobile phone but also because of its networking department which kept Nokia going when its phone business collapsed. The Finns are still very active in India and support many of India’s telecom companies with hardware and software solutions. Nokia is still manufacturing networking components in India, and the factory in Chennai will be the first to make 5G hardware components.

Anyway, while Nokia is dedicated to the Indian market, it is also dedicated to regular payments of clients which are needed for Nokia to continue doing its business. The oldest Indian telecom company, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), could be deprived of Nokia’s support because of due payments. BSNL is already late for Rs 800 crore (€100M) which is a pretty sum. The top management in Nokia’s HQ already ordered to shut the services Nokia is providing, but the local management is still trying to find the solution. Since Nokia is the largest equipment supplier to BSNL, with them backing up BSNL would probably collapse. That could be the scenario since BSNL is already three months late with payments.
BSNL covers over 60% of fixed telephony and broadband services in India with almost 115 million mobile telephony subscribers. This would be a serious blow for the government-owned company.
Anyway, Nokia is not the only one seeking the payments. Chinese ZTE, American Tower Corporation, UTStarcom, and Fiberhome are also in the same problem, and BSNL will have to find a solution quickly if it wants to stay in the telecom business.

Source EconomicTimes