Mobile phone makers Motorola and Siemens yesterday played down speculation that they were about to announce a multibillion dollar joint venture designed to combat a slowdown in sales of handsets and wireless infrastructure equipment.
Germany's Siemens and its US rival Motorola are thought to have opened preliminary talks about possible cooperation in the manufacture of handsets or other equipment. While neither would comment yesterday, sources said a deal was not imminent.
Both firms are battling with the slowdown in sales of telecoms equipment caused by a fall in orders from the big wireless operators suffering the financial after-effects of bidding for next-generation wireless networks in Europe.
At the same time, sales of handsets have fallen because of the end of operator subsidies. Last month Motorola, the second-largest mobile maker, published its third profit warning since Christmas, saying that poor sales in the third quarter would push it into a loss and it would cut 2,000 jobs. Siemens has also suffered a slowdown in equipment orders and a fall in handset sales.
Others have already joined forces to weather the storm: Sony and Ericsson yesterday launched their venture, Sony Ericsson, and hope to knock Sweden's Nokia off the top spot in the handset industry within five years.
