Nokia Sells Cable Access Biz to Canada’s Vecima

Canadian tech company Vecima Networks has announced the purchase of a large portion of Nokia’s cable access product portfolio.

The acquisition, terms for which weren’t announced, includes Espoo, Finland-based Nokia’s EPON and DOCSIS Provisioning over EPON (DPoE) products. Also included are Distributed Access Architecture technologies Nokia took over when it purchased startup Gainspeed in 2016.

Nokia will retain cable-related products including mobile, routing, transport, fiber, and fixed wireless access technology, along with network operations and customer experience-related solutions.

Vecima’s newly acquired DOCSIS DAA and EPON/DPoE technology and product portfolios will be integrated with its existing Entra-branded Distributed Access product suite.

Nokia employees associated with these technologies will be shifted to Vecima Networks, although it’s not clear as to how many of them will take the British Columbia-based company up on the offer.

“Our cable access solutions have played a very important role in helping to redefine next generation cable solutions and our customers' strategies for addressing evolving network demands using distributed architectures,” said Sandra Motley, president of fixed networks at Nokia, in a statement. “However, the industry continues to go through significant shifts, and we believe the timing is right to transition our cable access business to Vecima Networks. Vecima has the focus, resources and complementary product portfolio needed to support these changes and help operators move toward a Distributed Access Architecture.”

Added Sumit Kumar, president and CEO at Vecima Networks: “Nokia’s portfolio to be acquired aligns perfectly with Vecima Networks’ strategy to provide open, independent, and future-proof cable access solutions that support a multi-vendor ecosystem. The addition of these products and world-class talent broadens our DAA platform and adds 10G-EPON products to our portfolio. In addition to expanding the products and services we are providing to existing customers, we look forward to partnering with service providers around the globe we don’t currently do business with.”

Daniel Frankel

Daniel Frankel is the managing editor of Next TV, an internet publishing vertical focused on the business of video streaming. A Los Angeles-based writer and editor who has covered the media and technology industries for more than two decades, Daniel has worked on staff for publications including E! Online, Electronic Media, Mediaweek, Variety, paidContent and GigaOm. You can start living a healthier life with greater wealth and prosperity by following Daniel on Twitter today!