So the gossip and rumours were correct. Siemens is indeed dissatisfied with the way its joint venture partnership with Nokia of Finland is panning-out and is equally unhappy with its tie-up with Fujitsu of Japan.
On Friday morning Telecom TV ran the story "Is Nokia Siemens on the skids?" after hearing rumours to the effect that executives at the big German trades union IG Metall (the body that represents the interests of many Siemens' employees) had been told by senior management of Siemens that the company is looking to exit the joint venture a mere six months after it became operational.
Under the terms of the agreement with Nokia, Siemens is contractually tied to remain in the 50:50 partnership for a minimum period of six years. Nokia and Siemens agreed the principle of a strategic union back in June 2006, and the jv agreement runs from April this year through to 2013.
The deal does carry the codicil that an early termination of the partnership is possible, but it can be effected only by mutual consent and common agreement between the two.
To pull out of the venture now would be massively expensive and would cause some raised eyebrows amongst investors and the stock market. Nokia Siemens is in the throes of a huge reorganisation as it strives to mesh two very distinct corporate cultures and to push through a restructuring strategy that is costing a lot both in terms of hard cash and jobs as the company seeks to meet its target of saving € 1.5 billion by the end of next year.
Nonetheless, reliable sources contended that a split is on the cards and that rumour was confirmed late on Friday afternoon when a statement made on Thursday by Peter Loescher, the new CEO of Siemens, but held under embargo until after the European markets closed for the weekend, was made public.
In it Herr Loescher says, "We are absolutely not satisfied with NSN". [Nokia Siemens Networks].
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