Nokia misses yawning Huawei open goal

LONDON: Nokia just fell off the 5G bandwagon. The Finnish telecom-kit maker lost about a fifth of its market value on Thursday morning after Chief Executive Rajeev Suri slashed profit forecasts and cancelled the dividend. The upbeat mood at Scandinavian rival Ericsson and U.S. President Donald Trump’s continued assault on China’s Huawei make the results particularly grim.

Ericsson last week raised its outlook for sales of new equipment for super-fast mobile networks, suggesting it was benefiting from Huawei’s woes. Nokia seems to be feeling the opposite effects. Suri lopped a third off his earnings forecast for next year, citing increased competition. The shares fell to a six-year low, reducing Nokia’s market value to 20 billion euros.