Nokia To Sell $870 Million ASN Cable Division; No One Seems Interest For Now [Report]

Since the Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) is no longer considered by Nokia as an integral part of its core business strategy, the company is considering selling the asset worth $870 million. The network was part of Nokia’s purchase of Alcatel in 2016. However, there is no buyer yet for the ASN, and Nokia is not rushing to sell the network.

ASN was owned by Alcatel and considered a vital part of protecting France’s cyber surveillance and security. The network also facilitates connections with Africa and overseas territories, Android Headlines reported. The lack of rush to sell the ASN could be explained by the French government’s stand on the undersea cable network.

About 1,000 people, mostly in Britain and France, are employed by ASN to manufacture, deploy, and maintain submarine cables, Reuters reported. ASN runs seven ships and has facilities in Calais, France, and Greenwich, Britain. The one is Greenwich is the same plant where the first transatlantic cable in the world was made in 1858.

In 2014, Alcatel also planned to sell ASN. Since Nokia is still studying its options, the Finnish firm asked EY, an audit company, to review the potential sale of the network. ASN has more than 47 percent of the submarine network market share, Nokiamob points out.

Challenger.fr, a French portal, broke the news about the planned sale by Nokia of ASN. However, beyond the headline, Challenger limited the details of the sale to its paying subscribers. Since ASN is the only part of Alcatel Lucent, with Nokia rising again with the renewed public interest in its Nokia 3, Nokia 5, and Nokia 6 models recently released, the network would likely be sold eventually. ASN is managed separately, but the network does not have that much overall impact on Nokia which once ruled the mobile phone market until the iPhone and Android smartphones took away its crown.