Nokia buys Alcatel-Lucent, will sell HERE maps to Microsoft?

Nokia seems ready for a comeback of sorts. The company reportedly agreed to buy Alcatel-Lucent for US $16 billion and while the deal will be finalized in Q2 2016, it makes for some intriguing speculation on where Nokia might be going with its new acquisition. 

"The combined company will have unparalleled innovation capabilities, with Alcatel-Lucent's Bell Labs and Nokia's FutureWorks, as well as Nokia Technologies, which will stay as a separate entity with a clear focus on licensing and the incubation of new technologies," a press release by Nokia states.

"With more than 40 000 R&D employees and spend of EUR 4.7 billion in R&D in 2014, the combined company will be in a position to accelerate development of future technologies including 5G, IP and software-defined networking, cloud, analytics as well as sensors and imaging."

Nokia is reportedly shopping its HERE maps and navigation subsidiary, which is one of the properties it retained after selling its mobile business to Microsoft. 

Source: Nokia