Nokia's revenue fell to its lowest level in nearly a decade as the 5G equipment market remained sluggish.

Nokia's second-quarter sales of 4.47bn euros, its lowest since 2015, missed expectations as continued investment fatigue in the upgrade of mobile networks held back the 5G equipment market, the company said in a statement.

The Finnish company and its Nordic rival Ericsson have been facing a sluggish telecoms equipment market for years, with little sign of mobile operators investing heavily in 5G in the near term. Both companies cut thousands of jobs and streamlined their businesses to save costs last year.

Nokia's weak telecoms equipment market has prompted a major overhaul of its network infrastructure business, such as its acquisition last month of Infinera for $2.3bn, betting on the demand for data centre services driven by artificial intelligence. It also plans to sell its submarine cable business to the French government.

Nokia's second-quarter revenue was its lowest since the fourth quarter of 2015, when Nokia bought Alcatel for €10.6bn.

The adjusted operating profit of €423m was above the average analyst estimate of €372m. Nokia reconfirmed its 2024 profit outlook.