Nokia has bought out its remaining shares in Chinese joint venture Nokia Shanghai Bell, giving the vendor a wholly Western-owned stake in China's telecom market.

According to Chinese publication The Paper, the deal closed on December 12th, following through with plans first reported in Nokia's 2024 annual report.

Not to be confused with Nokia's global research division Bell Labs, Nokia Shanghai Bell is a vendor for the Chinese telecom market which the Finnish giant acquired in its Alcatel-Lucent buy out from 2016. The company was known then as Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell (ASB), having formed as Shanghai Bell in the 1980s.

It was then rebranded to Nokia Shanghai Bell in a joint venture between Nokia and China Huaxin Post & Telecommunications Technology, with the new firm focusing on mobile communications, infrastructure networks, and cloud services.

Transaction details weren't disclosed, but last month saw China Huaxin list its Nokia Shanghai Bell stake on the Beijing Equity Exchange last month for CNY4.1 billion (£582 million), according to the report.

In a previous announcement by China Huaxin, the company reported a net profit of CNY 90.5 million ($12.8 million) and revenue of CNY 4.6 billion ($653 million) in the first three quarters of 2025. As of September 30, its total assets stood at CNY 11.6 billion ($1.65 billion).

China open after all?

In its annual report from last year, Nokia said the deal would “allow Nokia to simplify its ownership structure in China while Nokia remains committed to continue serving the local market.”

Since then, Nokia CEO Justin Hotard admitted that Nokia’s share in the Chinese market had fallen below 3%, leading him to question why Chinese vendors such as Huawei were free to operate in parts of Europe, “particularly when they do not allow us to play in their markets.”

In an exclusive comment given to SDxCentral, a company representative said: “Nokia completed the purchase of shares in Nokia Shanghai Bell (“NSB”) from China Huaxin Posts & Telecommunications Company and is now the sole shareholder of NSB following legal closure of the deal on 12 December 2025. This change allows Nokia to simplify its ownership structure in China. The NSB organization will be incorporated into Nokia, and will fully align with Nokia’s global mode of operation. Moving forward, NSB will operate as Nokia in China and we remain committed to serving our Chinese customers.”

Story updated to include Nokia's response.