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FYI, Nokia owns the Alcatel smartphone brand that's licensed to TCL

By Cosmin Vasile

Updated: Mar 16, 2017, 2:34 AM

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Nokia acquired Alcatel-Lucent, the French telecom equipment company, back in 2016, to better compete with the likes of Huawei in the network infrastructure industry.

If you have minimum knowledge about the mobile phone market, then you most likely have heard about Alcatel, a brand that's very popular at the mid- and low-tier. It turns out that the Alcatel brand was among the assets owned by the French company when Nokia announced its acquisition.

Clearly, that means that after the acquisition the Alcatel smartphone brand would belong to Nokia. However, the Finnish company did not mention anything about the brand one year ago after it bought Alcatel-Lucent.

It was only recently that Nokia confirmed that when it acquired Alcatel-Lucent, it obtained the Alcatel brand, which was licensed to Chinese company TCL. The latter also owns the license to launch BlackBerry-branded phones.

The Alcatel brand was licensed by Alcatel-Lucent to TCL for mobile phones and devices and this license expires at the end of 2024. When Nokia acquired the assets of Alcatel-Lucent in 2016, this also included licensing agreements for the Alcatel brand.

The above statement comes from Nokia and confirms TCL has the license to launch Alcatel smartphones and tablets for seven more years. So, more money for Nokia, right?

On a related note, we must clarify that the Nokia we're speaking of is not the company that recently announced the Nokia 6, Nokia 5, Nokia 3, and Nokia 3310 phones. Nokia handsets are now made by HMD Global – a company that holds the rights to sell Nokia-branded phones.

source: NokiaMob via NPU

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Cosmin, a tech journalist with a career spanning over a decade, brought a wealth of experience to PhoneArena. His expertise lies in brands like Samsung and Nokia, and he has a keen interest in innovative technologies. After a brief stint in PR, Cosmin returned to tech journalism in 2016, committed to delivering clear and objective news. When he's not writing or appearing as a guest on TV and radio shows, Cosmin enjoys playing RPGs, watching Netflix, and nurturing his passion for history and travel.