Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia has reported its first quarterly loss in a decade. It said it made a net loss of €559m in the third quarter of the year.
The results were badly hit by a €908m writedown of the value of its networks division, due to tough market conditions.
Chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said the demand for mobile devices had improved in many markets during the July-September period, but added that the company had had some problems. He said Nokia had experienced some shortage of components, which affected its sales volumes.
The company reported a third quarter-operating loss of €426m, compared with a profit of €1.5 billion in the same period in 2008. Sales in the July-September period fell nearly 20% from a year earlier to €9.8 billion, while the average selling price of a Nokia device remained at €62.
For the past year, the world's biggest mobile device maker has been suffering from the global financial turmoil that has made many consumers trade down to cheaper phones. At the same time, competition in smartphones has become tougher as many consumers opt for Apple's iPhone or RIM's Blackberry over a Nokia device.
