Why Nokia sees Europe and the US as co-dependent in telecom networks

Nokia argues that Europe and the US can no longer treat telecom supply chains as simple cost or performance decisions. Network equipment is built to last for decades, but the political rules around who can supply what, from which country, now shift much faster than the hardware itself. Security, national industrial policy, and trust between governments are starting to outweigh price as operators decide whose kit will sit at the core of their networks.

In this environment, Nokia sees Europe and the US as effectively tied together. Both regions depend on a small pool of trusted vendors and shared standards, and both want to reduce exposure to suppliers seen as strategic or security risks. That mutual dependency shapes how operators plan upgrades, where they source components, and how governments write rules that can re-draw supply chains long before the equipment they govern reaches end of life.