Nokia Siemens Networks Names North America Head

Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) fleshed out its business unit and named regional executives Friday. Mark Louison, currently senior vice president of North America for Nokia Networks, was named to lead the North American region.

Louison has worked across a broad spectrum of U.S. telecommunications in past years focusing primarily on wireless solutions.

While Nokia Siemens Networks will primarily address Europe from its Helsinki, Finland, headquarters, it will establish operations in most major regions of the world. It is scheduled to begin formal operation by the first of January 2007.

"We are making excellent progress in planning for the start of operations at Nokia Siemens Networks," said Simon Beresford-Wylie, future CEO of NSN, in a statement.

The proposed new firm will combine the cell phone expertise of Finland-based Nokia and the telecommunications infrastructure prowess of Siemens, which is headquartered in Germany.In its announcement Friday, the two firms said: "The combined company will have a world class fixed-mobile convergence capability, a complementary global base of customers, a deep presence in both developed and emerging markets, and of of the industry's largest and most experienced service organizations."