HELSINKI, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Operating profit of Finnish telecommunications equipment maker Nokia fell below market expectations for the first quarter (Q1) of 2023, according to the company's financial report released on Thursday.

Nokia's net sales were up year-on-year to 5.9 billion euros (6.47 billion U.S. dollars), while its comparable operating profit fell to 479 million euros.

The value of the Nokia stock declined on the Helsinki Stock Exchange by 7 percent by Thursday early afternoon local time.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Pekka Lundmark said in a written statement that signs of the economic environment impacting customer spending have appeared. He said he was confident that the need to invest in 5G and fiber persists, and "we see this primarily as a question of timing."

"We will maintain our cost discipline to ensure we can successfully navigate this uncertainty... Profitability in the second half of the year will be stronger than the first half," Lundmark said.

Analyst Kimmo Stenvall of the Finnish OP Financial Group told the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper that Nokia performed fairly well in mobile networks, compared with expectations. "Especially compared with its Swedish competitor Ericsson, Nokia grew well in the mobile networks sector," he said. The progress of 5G investments in India was important to the company. However, investments in North America slowed down as expected.

Nokia did not change its guidance for the year. It expects sales in 2023 to amount to 24.6-26.2 billion euros and the profit margin to be 11.5-14.0 percent. (1 euro = 1.10 U.S. dollar) Enditem

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