Rajeev Suri, CEO of Nokia Siemens Networks, today emphasized the company's commitment to transforming mobile networks and responding to the explosion in mobile devices. This commitment includes the creation of a "Smartphone Experience Lab" located at Telefónica's facilities in Madrid.

During her participation in the aforementioned Telecommunications Meeting held in Santander, Suri also took the opportunity to confirm that Nokia Siemens Networks has received some expressions of interest from different private equity funds due to the good moment the company is currently experiencing.

“Smartphones are taking off everywhere, and Spain, in particular, is one of the fastest-growing markets, ahead of Germany, Sweden, the UK, and the US,” Suri commented. “Networks need to transform—and now—to handle the massive increase in data and signaling traffic generated by smartphones. Our solution is the only one that can address this surge while operators prepare for the upcoming rollout of LTE (Long Term Evolution) networks.”.

Regarding the news about the interest shown in Nokia Siemens Networks by these private equity funds seeking investment opportunities, Suri explained that "I take this interest, not provoked by us, as a testament to the progress we are making."

Suri explained that the company is evolving in the right direction, gaining market share in key segments, with strong leadership in next-generation technologies such as LTE, improved financial performance, significant new agreements, and the recent acquisition of Motorola's wireless infrastructure assets.

In Santander, Suri addressed an audience of executives, business leaders, and telecommunications policymakers, discussing the challenges posed by the sudden proliferation of smart devices and their impact on mobile operators. Many smartphone apps are always on, generating up to eight times more signaling traffic than laptops with mobile connections. This can saturate various network components, rendering them unable to handle additional data or voice calls for extended periods, thus degrading network quality. This phenomenon is observed in networks worldwide with heavy smartphone traffic and, unless addressed, could become increasingly common.

Smartphone users' expectations are rising, mirroring the growth of a generation accustomed to always-on fixed broadband. These users now expect to be connected regardless of their location. For example, of Facebook's 500 million active users today, approximately 150 million use a mobile device to access the service, and these mobile users are twice as active as non-mobile users(*).

“Therefore, it is vital for operators around the world to find new ways to support the 10,000 percent increase in data traffic generated by smart devices by 2015,” Suri explained.

Nokia Siemens Networks has recently completed the “London Experience” project, optimizing Telefónica O2’s network and minimizing signaling load. It is the fastest mobile broadband network in London, as independently verified (**).

Suri also confirmed that Nokia Siemens Networks is working with Telefónica and Nokia on a joint initiative. The Smartphone Experience Lab was recently inaugurated at Telefónica's facilities in Madrid with the aim of finding the ideal configuration between mobile devices, applications, and networks. The goal is to minimize any negative impact on the network from smart devices, improve resource consumption, and achieve better device and application performance to offer customers the best possible user experience. The results produced by the lab will include guidelines for optimal network and equipment configuration and application development.

The Smartphone Experience Lab is part of Telefónica's overall smartphone activities, aimed at improving the customer experience when using smart device applications and mitigating, where possible, potential future problems caused by smartphones and related applications. To achieve this, Telefónica works closely with third parties such as network and device vendors, including Nokia Siemens Networks and Nokia, as well as other operators.

(*) Statistics on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics
(**) Tests conducted in January 2010 showed that Telefónica O2's network offered the fastest mobile web access in London, according to testing company SIRODA. The tests were independently verified by the British Approvals Board for Telecommunications.