Telecommunication equipment manufacturer Nokia plans to sell its undersea cables unit according to an unconfirmed report by Reuters.

The division, valued at about 800 million euros ($870 million), is one of the top suppliers of undersea cable networks in the world and was bought by the telecom equipment maker last year as part its 15.6 billion euro ($17 billion) acquisition of French rival Alcatel, http://www.truepulse.com/nokia-takes-control-of-alcatel-lucent/.

The division is still widely known as Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), produces, deploys and maintains submarine cables.

The sources quoted by Reuters say that the division is not core to Nokia.  However, they went on to say that there was no urgency to sell either.  Fortunate that they are patient, as Nokia has reportedly been interested in selling ASN since the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent in 2015

Selling ASN would allow Nokia to focus capital and management attention on those areas that they do consider to be strategic to their success.

ASN’s rivals are Subsea Communications (SubCom), a unit of Swiss company TE Connectivity (formerly known as Tyco Electronics), Japanese companies NEC and Fujitsu, and China’s Huawei.

Reuters report can be found at http://www.reuters.com/article/us-nokia-underseacables-idUSKBN17Z22U