Nokia’s plant at Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, will not be transferred to Microsoft as part of the US software company’s $7.4-billion acquisition of the Finnish telecom major, due to ongoing legal issues. The deal closes on Friday.
The plant will become a contract manufacturer for Microsoft. Nokia employees had earlier rejected this arrangement; they want to be part of Nokia or Microsoft.
“Nokia has communicated to the employees’ union that we will get into a services agreement with Microsoft. This means Nokia will manufacture products for Microsoft,” said a spokesperson, without giving details.
A Nokia employee said the management had indicated there would be no change in the salary structure.
According to the original plan, the deal was to close by the end of March. However, due to legal issues in China and India, the closing date was deferred to April end.