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

by Cosmin Vasile / Mar 15, 2017, 6:13 PM

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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16 Comments

1. meanestgenius

Posts: 22522; Member since: May 28, 2014

That's actually pretty good news for Nokia in terms of another steady revenue stream. I wonder if we'll see an HMD/Nokia device inspired by the Alcatel Idol 4s? That handset has a pretty good design.

posted on Mar 15, 2017, 6:21 PM 6

2. Crispin_Gatieza

Posts: 3168; Member since: Jan 23, 2014

I have the Windows-flavored Idol 4S and you're right. It's a beautiful, well designed and well built phone. The speakers will knock you off your feet. The camera? Definitely a weak spot but that's not the phone as the DTEK60 has good imaging capabilities.

posted on Mar 15, 2017, 7:55 PM 4

3. Rafishant

Posts: 407; Member since: Oct 13, 2015

Nokia's market cap before Microsoft acquired Devices and Services was around $9 billion. Now Nokia's market cap is over $30 billion with $12 billion cash reserves. I don't know now whether Microsoft deal was good or not! But Nokia is getting way better and bigger than three years ago.

posted on Mar 15, 2017, 8:08 PM 4

6. Podrick

Posts: 1285; Member since: Aug 19, 2015

Nokia, dying and rising like a phoenix numerous times since 1865.

posted on Mar 15, 2017, 11:21 PM 2

8. SIGPRO

Posts: 2817; Member since: Oct 03, 2012

Nokia never died!

posted on Mar 16, 2017, 2:54 AM 1

4. Subie

Posts: 2430; Member since: Aug 01, 2015

Read the last paragraph on the source article (which is not directly Nokia). Even the quote they use has no mention of who from Nokia it came from. This "news" may just be here say at the moment. Or a misunderstanding. And maybe thats why Nokia never mentioned it when they bought Alcatel-Lucent. Interesting source article though. Anyway here is what I've read in the past regarding the Alcatel phone brand: "Alcatel was established in 2004 as a joint venture between Alcatel-Lucent (45%) and TCL (55%). In 2005 the joint venture was dissolved and TCL acquired Alcatel-Lucent's 45 percent share. Since then, Alcatel became a wholly owned subsidiary group of TCL. Alcatel-Lucent later sold its shares in TCL and is no longer related to the Alcatel mobile phone brand." This comes from wikipedia so take it as you will. But I've yet to find any article disputing it. Maybe someone else here can weigh in with better info. Otherwise for me at this time, I'm taking this PA article with a grain of salt...

posted on Mar 15, 2017, 8:31 PM 2

5. Derass

Posts: 149; Member since: Aug 06, 2015

Great. Now can I buy an Idol 4S unlocked in Canada? Or is my only option still the lowly Idol 4 locked and on contract? I've loved the Idol 4S ever since it was announced at MWC 2016. But after a 6 month delay getting to market, and STILL not be able to buy one, I'm left greatly disappointed with the company.

posted on Mar 15, 2017, 11:16 PM 0

9. Mxyzptlk unregistered

If that's the case, then blackberry should consider getting camera tips from Nokia.

posted on Mar 16, 2017, 4:51 AM 0

10. trojan_horse

Posts: 5868; Member since: May 06, 2016

Irrelevantly bringing up BlackBerry once again, just to stir another argument with whom you love attention-baiting. You who I'm talking about, so do not attempt to play innocent here.

posted on Mar 16, 2017, 5:08 AM 3

11. meanestgenius

Posts: 22522; Member since: May 28, 2014

Of course that's what he's doing. BlackBerry clearly has nothing to do with this article. BlackBerry doesn't even have anything to with the camera's on their branded smartphones anymore, much less the rest of the hardware. Their licensees handle that. Now, imagine how much crying he'd be doing if I brought Apple into this and said that they can learn a plethora of things about innovation from Nokia, as well as how not to have karma b-slapping them around with lawsuits. He'd be throwing a fit right now. He's just going about his usual trolling because he saw that I made a comment here. I live rent free inside of his teeny, tiny brain. He can't help but seek me out and stalk me across articles on PA. He wil no doubt play the victim role since we both called him out on it.

posted on Mar 16, 2017, 7:56 AM 3

15. Mxyzptlk unregistered

First of all, don't flatter yourself. Nowhere in my initial comment did I say or imply anything related to you. Perhaps you are just being paranoid. Everything you said about me technically can be said about you as well. You're overreacting to a comment both of you took out of context.

posted on Mar 16, 2017, 11:03 AM 0

17. meanestgenius

Posts: 22522; Member since: May 28, 2014

No need to flatter myself when you only started commenting on Nokia articles because I have. That's a fact and you know it. You can't help but make ignorant comments about BlackBerry when I'm around. I'm that engrained in that small brain of yours. You need to seek help for that, as I have become your obsession, and other commenters here have noticed it. And the fact that you brought up a company that bears no relevance to the article in a negative light (a company that you always troll on articles that do have relevance to them) proves that you're a troll. No one took any comment out of context, and even Crispin is schooling you on your dumb, ignorant comment. You're now doing exactly what I said you were going to do, and that's playing the victim role.

posted on Mar 16, 2017, 3:39 PM 3

13. Mxyzptlk unregistered

Who am I attending baiting? And let's not talk about anyone stirring up arguments because you have done so many times before. In case you didn't understand, TCL has a license with blackberry to make blackberry devices. They have good cameras, but I think they can be better. That's why I said what I said above. Do enlighten me because I'm not going to attempt to read your mind.

posted on Mar 16, 2017, 10:58 AM 0

12. Crispin_Gatieza

Posts: 3168; Member since: Jan 23, 2014

You brought this on yourself. If you're gonna be dumb, ya gotta be tough.

posted on Mar 16, 2017, 9:08 AM 3

14. Mxyzptlk unregistered

Well I'm certainly tough, but I wasn't being dumb. It was a simple comment that got taken out of context.

posted on Mar 16, 2017, 10:59 AM 0

16. Crispin_Gatieza

Posts: 3168; Member since: Jan 23, 2014

Bringing BlackBerry into a Nokia and Alcatel conversation gives the illusion that you have BlackBerry on your tip. Now let's take a peek at your comments shall we? You mention that BlackBerry should get camera tips from Nokia knowing full well that BlackBerry doesn't manufacture phones anymore. Dumb Comment #1. Then you acknowledge TCL makes good cameras but could be better. You destroyed your own BlackBerry camera comment. That makes Dumb Comment #2.