OXFORD, United Kingdom—The continued downturn in mobile communications has caused Benefon and Openmobile, both based in Finland, to close their operations or dramatically restructure their businesses.
Benefon, one of the pioneers of mobile terminals, said it is in merger talks with a number of companies, having reported a set of disastrous financial results for its mobile division. After stating that it had a net loss of 4.3 million euro (US$4 million) on a turnover of 4.7 million euro (US$4.3 million) during its first quarter, Benefon confirmed it will stop developing and manufacturing handsets within the next two years and will instead focus on its location sensing technology.
Meanwhile, Openmobile, which developed links between cell-phone operators and content owners, has filed for bankruptcy. The company said that, despite spending more than 16 million euro (US$14.8 million) of investors’ money, it has not been able to generate a positive cash flow. The firm recently announced the closure of its Finnish office and moved many of its employees to Singapore. The bankruptcy filing does not affect Openmobile Asia-Pacific, which is said to be profitable and continues to operate in Singapore.
