Nokia Confirms It Is Considering Sale of Here Maps Unit

"The Board of Directors of Nokia believes this is the right moment to assess the position of Here within the proposed new Nokia business," the company said in a statement, adding that the review may or may not result in any deal.

A source told Reuters on Friday that Nokia had hired a financial adviser to explore a sale of the unit

The unit is estimated to be worth EUR 4.4 billion to EUR 6.9 billion, based on a sum-of-parts calculation, according to Inderes Equity Research.

The Alcatel-Lucent takeover will help the companies better take on mobile leader Sweden's Ericsson and cut costs amid weak growth prospects in the telecom gear industry. The combined firm will have a global wireless market share of 35 percent, second only to Ericsson with 40 percent, and ahead of China's Huawei at 20 percent, according to Bernstein Research.

The two have been seen as a possible combination for the last several years as they are a good fit in terms of products and geographies.

The combined company will have about 114,00 employees and combined sales of around EUR 26 billion.

Nokia sold its once-dominant handset business last year after struggling to compete with smartphones by Apple and Samsung. That deal left it with the network unit, a smaller map unit and a bunch of technology patents.

Edited by NDTV staff from original story by Reuters