Nokia Corporation, the Finnish communications and IT giant, has today announced that it is introducing some significant changes to its organizational structure and Group Leadership Team. The primary aim of these leadership changes is to accelerate the execution, as well as the growth of their mobile Network business.

Under this restructuring exercise, Nokia is moving ahead with the division of their Mobile Networks Business group into two separate organizations. One of these is called ‘Mobile Networks’ and will focus on its communications-related products and solutions whereas the other will provide services linked to their operation. The latter will operate under a ‘Global Services’ moniker. These divisions will be closely linked to each other and the new organizational structure will come into effect from April 1.

Talking about these leadership changes, Nokia President and CEO Rajeev Suri said,

These changes are designed to accelerate the execution of our strategy. They will strengthen our ability to deliver strong financial performance, drive growth in services, meet changing customer demands in mobile networks, achieve our cost saving and ongoing transformation goals, and enable strategic innovation across our networks business.

With regards to the same, Nokia has handed out fresh responsibilities to senior-level executives in the newly formed organizations. It has bumped its current Chief Innovation and Operating Officer Marc Rouanne to become President of the Mobile Networks business group. He’ll be responsible for mobile-focused solutions such as 4G, 5G, cloud core, small cells and other advanced mobile solutions.

The current Executive Vice President of Global Services Igor Leprince has been assigned the role of President of Global Services. This business group has emerged from the Mobile Network division and will be including company-wide managed services. In addition, it has also witnessed an exit in the form of Samih Elhage, who was the President of Mobile Networks at Nokia. He is stepping down after a good 5-year long stint with the company.

Further, there is another internal Nokia division, called Chief Innovation and Operating Officer (CIOO) organization, which is being split up into multiple business groups. A new Chief Operating Officer (COO) organization will handle the operation, whereas Nokia’s incubation and innovation activities will be handled by the CTO and CSO respectively. The COO organization will be spearheaded by Monika Maurer, who’s currently appointed as the Chief Operating Officer of Fixed Networks.

Nokia might’ve missed on an opportunity during the spread of 4G connectivity across the globe but it is now not looking to miss on the advent of 5G networks. It has already accelerated its efforts and is currently testing 5G networks in collaboration with several telecom giants across the globe. The Finnish giant has recently also acquired a US-based startup ‘Eta Devices’ with the aim of improving power efficiency at its base stations. It has received ownership of Eta’s fixed assets, 20 employees, intellectual property rights, and lease and supplier deals.