Finnish telecom network infrastructure vendor Nokia reported a stronger-than-expected second quarter with a 7% rise in revenue from the previous year, boosted by revenue in North America and end-to-end 5G demand. Despite earlier predictions of a flat market, the company now expects slight market growth in 2019.
Nokia maintained its forecasts of full-year earnings per share at 0.25-0.29 euros, and 2020 EPS of 0.37-0.42 euros, and net sales increased 5%.
Since the peak of 4G network sales in the middle of the decade, the telecom infrastructure vendors have been met with a slowing demand.