Nokia has announced securing €500 million in funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to support its research and development (R&D) of 5G technology, with the loan backed under the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI).
According to Nokia CFO Kristian Pullola, the EIB "shares our view of the revolutionary nature of 5G", and the loan will allow Nokia to continue its momentum in developing new networking technologies.
"5G is happening fast, faster than most people even expected. It's anticipated that it will enable entirely new business cases, while dramatically enhancing existing wireless applications," EIB VP Alexander Stubb said. "I think bringing 5G to the market will definitely improve people's lives."
With EFSI part of Europe's Juncker Plan, European Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen said 5G will ensure the EU "embraces and benefits from new technologies requires sustained investment".
"I am delighted that, with today's agreement, the plan is contributing to Nokia's research and development activities across multiple European countries to advance the development of 5G technology," Katainen said.
The loan has a maturity of five years, and extends Nokia's debt maturity profile.
Nokia had in July published its financial results for the first half of 2018, revealing operating profit down 37 percent to €573 million on net sales of €10.2 billion[1], looking to 5G growth to improve its financials.
During the first half of the year, Nokia spent €1.8 billion on Networks R&D, with the company expecting commercial 5G network rollouts to kick off towards the end of this year.
"Results in 2018 and over the longer term are expected to be influenced by our ability to scale our supply chain operations to meet increasing demand; recovery actions to address