The Motorola unit posted $3.7 billion in sales in 2009, with 41 Wimax contracts, 30 active CDMA networks and 80 GSM networks in operation.
Julian Bright, senior analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media, said the deal shows NSN has become more aggressive since losing out to Ericsson in the Nortel fire sale in 2009.
“Motorola’s access layer technology, particularly on CDMA and evolution toward LTE, will complement NSN’s strengths in core networks and services,” he said.
The deal would also help shore up NSN’s position in North America and key Asian markets such as Japan and China, but it could struggle to integrate Motorola staff into its structure due to national and cultural differences, Bright said.
NSN will have to incorporate 7,500 Motorola staff, including workers at large R&D sites in the US, China and India.
For Motorola, analysts said the deal helped the company on its path to a planned split early next year between its handset and enterprise businesses.