(Reuters) – U.S.-listed shares of Nokia rose about 5% in extended trading on Tuesday after T-Mobile said it has no plans to stop working with the Finnish company in response to an analyst report suggesting such a possibility it is claimed.
Nokia shares closed down around 7% after EJL Wireless Research’s Earl Lum said in a LinkedIn post that there is a chance Nokia could be dropped by T-Mobile in favor of Swedish company Ericsson.
“We have not made a decision to end our working relationship with Nokia, and any media reports implying this are untrue,” T-Mobile said in a statement.
Lum pointed out in the post Nokia’s inability to meet T-Mobile’s network needs and the superiority of Ericsson’s products.
“T-Mobile is working with both Nokia and Ericsson on our RAN, who over the years have helped us build the largest and fastest 5G network in the country,” T-Mobile said.
Last year, telecom rival AT&T chose Ericsson to build a telecom network that will cover 70% of its wireless traffic in the US by the end of 2026, eroding Nokia’s presence in the North American market.
(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru)
