The company has operated in various industries for over 150 years. Nokia was originally established as a pulp mill and was long associated with rubber and electrical cable manufacturing. However, since the 1990s, the company has focused on large-scale telecommunications infrastructure, technology development, and licensing. Nokia has made significant contributions to the mobile phone industry, supporting the development of GSM, 3G, and LTE standards. From 1998, for a decade, Nokia was the world’s largest mobile phone and smartphone supplier.

On April 15, 2015, Nokia announced its intention to acquire Alcatel-Lucent for €15.6 billion in a stock exchange deal. The acquisition aimed to create a stronger competitor against rival companies Ericsson and Huawei, which Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent had surpassed in combined total revenue by 2014. On November 3, 2016, Nokia completed the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent and began focusing more on telecommunications infrastructure and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. As of 2018, Nokia was the world’s third-largest network equipment manufacturer.