Nokia loses its mobile network head Marc Rouanne

Finnish kit vendor Nokia has had an executive reshuffle that resulted in yet another head of its mobile networks business group calling it a day.

Marc Rouanne is a Nokia lifer who inherited the mobile crown when Samih Elhage cleared off following the last episode of corporate musical chairs at Nokia, which saw his group diminished by the separation of its services arm into its own little silo. The move is effective immediately and Nokia has wasted little time erasing him from history, which does make you wonder how amicable this latest split was.

History seems to be repeating itself as Rouanne’s departure coincides with his group being absorbed into a larger silo called the Access Networks Division, together with the fixed network group. Nokia has yet to name the head of this new super-division, which is surprising. Maybe Rouanne was lined up for the gig but then bailed at the last minute for some reason, resulting in the embarrassment of announcing a major new corporate initiative without anyone at the top of it.

Nokia has at least managed to replace Rouanne at mobile networks, with lifer Tommi Uitto stepping up from his role as head of product sales to head up the whole group. He will report into whoever they eventually find for the access networks gig.

“Nokia has a unique advantage in the 5G era with its end-to-end portfolio,” said Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri. “By creating a single Access Networks organization that includes both fixed and mobile, we can improve our customer focus, simplify our management structure, and more efficiently leverage our full portfolio.

“Tommi is a strong leader with the right background in both sales and product development and I am pleased that he has accepted this role. He brings deep credibility from across the telecommunications industry and a proven ability to drive product leadership and business performance. I want to thank Marc for his contributions to Nokia and wish him well in the future.”

Creating an overall hardware product division makes sense, given the whole point of the Alcatel-Lucent acquisition. It’s such an obvious move, in fact, that it begs the question of why it didn’t happen sooner. This will hopefully be the last corporate reshuffle required to fully incorporate A-Lu as Nokia’s going to have to start tapping the mail room for its mobile heads if this trend persists.