Maintains fullyear sales, margin outlook
Comparable operating margin fell to 8.2 from 10.9
Expects recovery in North American market in H2

STOCKHOLM, April 20 Reuters Nokia on Thursday reported operating profit below market expectations for the first quarter and the Finnish company said it was seeing signs of customer spending slowing down.

However, it kept its fullyear outlook unchanged and said it expects profitability in the second half of the year to be stronger than the first half.

Firstquarter comparable operating profit fell to 479 million euros 524.94 million from 583 million euros last year, missing the 532.4 million euro forecast of analysts polled by Refinitiv.

Nokia and Ericsson have been depending on sales growth in India where telecom operators are building a new 5G network to offset a slowdown in highmargin markets such as the United States.

What we are seeing in India at the moment is the fastest 5G rollout the world has ever seen, Nokia CEO Pekka Lundmark said in an interview.

India, where Nokia counts Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel as customers, now account for 15 of its revenue.

Net sales grew 10 in the quarter to 5.86 billion euros, beating estimates of 5.72 billion euros, Nokia said.

Lundmark expects some recovery in the North American market in the second half of the year.

Comparable operating margin fell to 8.2 from 10.9. It forecast margins of 11.5 to 14 for 2023.

Apart from getting big contracts from telecom operators, Nokia is also…