Nokia Siemens to sell WiMax business to NewNet

Nokia Siemens Networks plans to sell its WiMax infrastructure business to NewNet Communication Technologies for an undisclosed sum.

The business in July 2010 as part of its US$1

NSN bought the business in July 2010 as part of its US$1.2 billion acquisition of most of Motorola's wireless network equipment unit. The loss-making company has been downsizing as it attempts to compete against rivals including Ericsson and Huawei. Last week, NSN announced it will lay off 17,000 employees worldwide, and on Nov. 4 it agreed to sell its microwave transport business to DragonWave.

WiMax has been overshadowed by LTE (Long Term Evolution, latest standard in the mobile network technology) as a 4G mobile platform however is for all that used by many carriers, including Clearwire and Sprint Nextel in the U.S. and mobile operators in South Korea, Japan and China. It is as well used for fixed wireless broadband, especially in areas of the world where wired broadband is lacking.

Stephen Lawson covers mobile, storage and networking technologies for The IDG News Service. Follow Stephen on Twitter at @sdlawsonmedia. Stephen's e-mail address is stephen_lawson@idg.com