Early Carrier Support of Nokia HMD Android Smartphones - A crowd-sourced survey of 30 markets (updated list growing: 39 of 46 countries and 79 carriers)

We can publish the first global survey of Nokia HMD Android smartphone marketing support, by the carrier community. This is an informal, unscientific, incomplete survey but enough countries are covered to make a posting about the topic. We can already cover 30 countries with at least some data.

I posted numbers and analysis of the launch of HMD Nokia smartphones a week ago. That blog attracted a lot of comments about local marketing support in many countries, plus comments from a few where the carrier support was lagging. I asked readers to provide more info, and also asked my Twitter followers to join. I also did some digging of various online sources myself. And we now have what I believe is the world's first international survey of the CARRIER SUPPORT of Nokia's smartphone return attempts, via HMD. The results are a mixed bag but there is a lot of promise. I have split the known markets into three groups, first those where all carriers support Nokia brand. Then those where at least one but not all carriers offer the brand. And finally those where as of today, October 31, 2017, no carrier support is seen (but sales are available via other retailers like Amazon or other local retail outlets).

10 OUT OF 46 COUNTRIES WITH FULL CARRIER SUPPORT OF NOKIA SMARTPHONES
In Alphabetical Order

Bulgaria . . . . . . . All Carriers (3 of 3 carriers advertise Nokia, also demand is exceeding supply, source reader 'Vlad')
Czech Rep . . . . . All Carriers (O2, T-Mobile & Vodafone, source reader 'Slavek Cerny')
Finland . . . . . . . . All Carriers (DNA & Elisa advertising, sources reader 'Asko' & Elisa, Telia sells, source Telia website)
Hungary . . . . . . All Carriers (Telenor, Vodafone & T-Mobile are all advertising Nokia, source reader 'zlutor')
Netherlands . . . All Carriers (Nokia 8 is on all Dutch networks, also bus stop advertising, source reader 'Winter')
Russia . . . . . . . . All Carriers (TV ads on air, all carrier shops include Nokia smartphones, source Twitter follower Anton Namestnikov @Annamest)
Serbia . . . . . . . . All Carriers (MTS, VIP & Telenor each carry 2 of the 3 in some mix Nokia 3, 5 & 6; source Nokiamob)
Slovenia . . . . . . All Carriers (All carriers have at least 2 of the models 3, 5, 6, source Twitter follower kpkp @0kp0kp) 
South Africa . . . All Carriers (Vodacom & CellC 3 each, MTN one Nokia model, source Twitter follower 'Ntete Metseka' aka @GoSharpShooter)
Switzerland . . . All Carriers (all major carriers offering Nokia including among their 'brand list' feature, source reader 'Joe Fish')



29 OUT OF 46 COUNTRIES WITH PARTIAL CARRIER SUPPORT OF NOKIA SMARTPHONES
In Alphabetical Order

Australia . . . . . . 1 Carrier (Vodafone carries Nokia 3,5, 6. Source Vodafone)
Austria . . . . . . . . 1 Carrier (A1 advertising Nokia 6, source Twitter follower @Digitreo) 
Belgium . . . . . . . . 2 Carriers (Proximus advertises three models, Telenet one; but Proximus store out of all three but have 3310 in stock, source reader 'luvr')
Chile . . . . . . . . . . 3 Carriers (Entel, Movistar & Wom have Nokia, source reader 'Rino')
Colombia . . . . . . 1 Carrier (Movistar sells Nokia 3. Also retailers selling 5 & 6, source Twitter follower Hernan Ramirez @HernanRamirez)
Croatia . . . . . . . . 2 Carriers (Croatia Telecom & Tele2, + 3rd carrier VIP sells dumbphone 3310, plus largest retailer, sources reader 'robig' & Nokiamob)
Denmark . . . . . . 3 Carriers (Telenor, Yousee & Three sell Nokia, source reader 'Elo Petersen')
France . . . . . . . . 2 Carriers (Bouygues has 3, Orange 2, 5 & 8. (third carrier SFR only does 3310, fourth nothing), also TV ads on air for 8, sources readers 'Phil W' & 'Michel C')
Germany . . . . . . 2 Carriers (T-Mobile has 2 and O2 has 3 models, source reader 'Huber')
Hong Kong . . . . 1 Carrier (CSL plus 3 local retailers advertising Nokia 8, according to my observations)
India . . . . . . . . . 1 Carrier (Vodafone marketing 3, 4 & 6 says iGadgetWoman; plus manufacturing locally, source reader 'John A')
Indonesia . . . . . 1 Carrier (Indosat advertising Nokia 3 & 6, plus biggest local retailer source 'Abdul Muis' local manufacturing, source 'John A')
Ireland . . . . . . . . 2 Carriers (Three & Vodafone, source David Doherty aka @mHealthInsight on Twitter)
Italy . . . . . . . . . . 1 Carrier (TIM has Nokia 5, also one retail channel, sources Twitter follower Luciano Corinti aka @LucianoCorinti & HMD)
Malaysia . . . . . . 1 Carrier (Digi advertising Nokia 3 & 6, source reader 'Abdul Muis')
Mexico . . . . . . . 1 Carrier (Movistar is advertising Nokia 6, via reader 'Rigoberto Calleja') 
New Zealand . . 1 Carrier (Spark carries Nokia 3, 5, 6 & 8. Source Spark)
Nigeria . . . . . . . 1 Carrier (9mobile is advertising Nokia 8, via Twitter follower 'Mister Mobility' aka @moverick)
Norway . . . . . . . 2 Carriers (Telenor & Telia sell Nokia, these 2 carriers (out of 3) control 73% of Norwegian market, sources readers 'Ola' & 'Knut Yrvin')
Pakistan . . . . . . 1 Carrier (Jazz offers Nokia 5 & 6, source Jazz; TV ads on air for Nokia smartphones, source Twitter follower Harry Jarn @h_jarn) 
Poland . . . . . . . 3 Carriers (3 out of 4 carriers selling Nokia, heavily advertised. Source reader 'Mike')
Portugal . . . . . . 2 Carriers (NOS & Vodafone have Nokia 3, 5 & 8 models, source reader 'Pedro')
Romania . . . . . . 3 Carriers (Vodafone, Orange & Telekom each carry Nokia, sources Vodafone & reader 'Romania')
Spain . . . . . . . . 3 Carriers (3 of 4 carriers are advertising Nokia 3, source reader 'Luis Calvo')
Sweden . . . . . . . 2 Carriers (Telia and Telenor selling Nokia, also Elgiganten the largest retailer has it plus other retailers source reader 'John A')
Taiwan . . . . . . . 1 Carrier (Far EasTone Telecom, source reader 'zmx')
Turkey . . . . . . . 1 Carrier (Vodafone running ads for Nokia, source reader 'John A')
UAE . . . . . . . . . 1 Carrier (Etisalat has 3 Nokia models, source reader 'Abdul Muis')
UK . . . . . . . . . . 3 Carriers (EE, Virgin & Vodafone sell, also largest retailer Carphone Warehouse, sources reader 'Mart' and Android Authority)

7 OUT OF 46 COUNTRIES WITH NO CARRIER SUPPORT YET
Argentina . . . . No Carriers (no carriers yet, by my survey of websites of major Argentinian carriers)
Brazil . . . . . . . . No Carriers (no carriers yet, source reader 'Joe Fish')
Canada . . . . . . No Carriers (no carriers, avail on Amazon, source reader 'Wayne Borean')
China . . . . . . . . No Carriers (several retail channels, sources HMD & reader 'John A')
Nepal . . . . . . . . No Carriers (but several independent retailers selling Nokia locally, source Twitter follower Aatish Neupane @aatishnn)
Thailand . . . . . . No Carriers (no carriers, retailer Jaymart sells it, by my observation)
USA . . . . . . . . . No Carriers (no carriers, several retail channels, sources readers 'Jim Glue' and 'John A')


ABOVE listing is crowd-sourced by readers of CDB blog and my Twitter followers. This listing MAY BE freely shared in any media and in any way you want, without any further permissions from me or this blog. Please indicate the DATE you saw the data, as this listing will likely grow over time, with more input from readers and Twitter followers, so your listing has a 'time stamp' on it if you publish it. I'd appreciate a link to this blog if you publish to an online source.In


In total, currently (as of 31 Oct)  79 carriers support Nokia HMD relaunch by at least selling at least one Nokia branded smartphone handset. Others in the list go much further, selling multiple handsets, marketing them prominently on their website front page or the top of their smartphone page; and some have done actual paid advertising already to support Nokia smartphone sales the most aggressive have done TV advertising.

The geographic footprint of HMD's effort (39 of 46 countries as of 31 Oct) now spans all 6 inhabited continents by geographic regions (when Mexico is counted as part of the 'North American' geographic continent) but by more common convention, Mexico is counted as part of the cultural region of 'Latin America' and by that method, HMD is in five geographic 'continental' regions out of six. By the more handset-relevant measure of the 8 common regions often measured, that separates some areas like Eastern Europe and the Middle East, out of Europe and Africa/Asia (but some will lump Middle East WITH Africa); and possibly also separates China and Emerging Asia from rich Asia but often then adds Oceania (Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia etc to 'Industrialized APAC') - if we go by the 8 regions I track in my Almanac and Phone Book series, then HMD has now reach into 7 of the 8 regions with only the USA-Canada North America part missing (as I count Mexico into LatAm). But my 'Emerging Asia' includes the single largest market China, which now some analysts separate out of the Emerging Asia part. If you count that way (eg 9 regions) then HMD has so far reached 7 of 9 regions.


This is clearly a crowd-sourced listing. I warmly welcome any additions corrections and further info that anyone can offer. Please feel free to post into comments and I will update the listing, or you can send me info via Twitter where I am @tomiahonen or my email which is tomi at tomiahonen dot com. I will be most happy to include your name as a contributor to this listing.

So far my thoughts of the sampling, 39 of 46 countries sampled have at least one carrier. And in 10 of 46 countries, all carriers already support Nokia smartphone sales. Considering that HMD only started (outside of China) in June this is a VERY solid start. Several of the world's largest handset markets have carrier support already including India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Mexico, Turkey and Germany. Yes, this is a good start. Go get them HMD, good luck! Lykkyä tykö!

(This blog was originally posted on 24 October. I closed the updating of this blog effective end of October 31, 2017 so that we will have a 'time stamp' after reasonable time to get reader contributions (one week). I will take more comments yes, but I will no longer update the listing, so that this becomes our first benchmark. I will start a new blog that collects more countries and carriers, for the month of November.)

Comments

[Tomi T Ahonen]

To all

Comments already coming. Via Twitter I received comment from follower @Digitreo who said A1 in Austria is offering Nokia 5. I will collect these and add to the list.

As before, readers, if you have any more to add, please do.

Tomi Ahonen :-)

[Elo Petersen]

They are also sold in Denmark. Most phones here are not sold by carriers as far as I know but they are sold by at least Telenor and Yousee.

[Tomi T Ahonen]

Hi Elo!

Thank you, I'll add Denmark :-)

Tomi Ahonen :-)

[Chris Vail]

Although Amazon is the only source to buy Nokia smartphones (unlocked) in the US, two carriers offer service: T Mobile and AT&T. I think this is a technology limitation.

[John A]

The new Nokia 7 are avaible in two online retailers in China JD.com and also Suning.
In USA we can add B&H Photo who will sell Nokia 6. Also BestBuy that will sell the Nokia 3310 (3G version)

[Phil W]

The Nokia 5 is on Orange in France and the Nokia 8 and 3310 3G are marked as coming soon.

[Phil W]

Also in France Bouygues telecom is offering the Nokia 3, 6 and 8 as well as the 3310 and SFR is supporting the Nika 3 and the 3310.

[Tomi T Ahonen]

Hi Chris, John & Phil

Thank you to you all!

Hey Chris, on the US availability. Is it so that if you buy a phone say via Amazon then they will connect you, but T Mo and AT&T won't actually sell the devices ie show them at their stores or websites? Or is it that one or both T Mobile & AT&T will also sell a device but just not bother to market them?

John, thanks!

Phil, thanks! I'll add France to countries with carrier support. We're now up to 33 already with Denmark & Austria to add.

Tomi Ahonen :-)

[Winter]

@Piot
"So Tomi this really begs the question...."

Maybe, just maybe, Tomi is more interested in the fate of Nokia than of iPhones? And it is not unthinkable, that his interest in the fate of Nokia is shared by other people who read this blog?

[Romania]

You missed at least two big carriers in Romania:
https://www.orange.ro/magazin-online/telefoane?order=ASC&sort=TopSales&from=0&size=12&q=nokia&filter=Cuabonament1,Android
https://www.telekom.ro/search/?q=nokia&q_facetTrail=13116%253Acat620045%253A17118%253AAndroid

[Tomi T Ahonen]

Hi Romania

THANKS !! I will add them and credit you.

(I love this, how our readers are contributing better info from their home countries)

Tomi Ahonen :-)

[E.Casais]

"So why compare New Nokia to ten year old iPhone data?"

Because there are few successful (re)-launches of mobile brands with a goal towards world-wide market presence. Jolla, Essential and Pixel are irrelevant -- they did not market their products that widely, and their market shares are literally minuscule.

You have a point that a comparison with more recent attempts to take over the world (figuratively) by new challengers would be appropriate. Here, only Chinese manufacturers come into play, such as Huawei, ZTE, Tinno. But those firms proceeded by first establishing a firm presence in China (a home market with some level of protection against the competition) before moving on to other countries. HMD is, like Apple once, trying to address a nearly-universal market at once.

Hence, the introduction of the iPhones is the only available case that is approximately analogous (with all due adjustments for market dimension and structure of the competition) to what HMD is trying to do.

[Tomi T Ahonen]

Hi Everybody

Lotsa new info coming in now via Twitter. I have South Africa now confirmed all 3 carriers have it, so moved SA from no support to full support. Pakistan has TV ads. Ireland has 1 carrier.

Am adding and updating to the big listing. My latest count was 28 of 33 countries have at least 1 carrier, 7 of 33 have all local carriers supporting Nokia (now on 2 continents, Europe & Africa) and only 5 of 33 countries with no support. My carrier count was up to 56 but adding now again more..

Tomi Ahonen :-)

[Tomi T Ahonen]

To all

I am preparing a VERY rough first estimate of the reach of Nokia HMD smartphones weighted by smartphone market size, and national carrier footprints. BUT not attempting to do national carriers by size, just the rough number, is it all carriers, some carriers, one carrier or no carriers.

The first stab at the number says HMD current is (this is very very rough) globally avail at carriers who cover 24% of the smartphone market. Best markets are East Europe and West Europe; worst markets with no carrier support are China and North America.

I hope to get more data coming in and then will do a breakdown calculation. There is no regional view to HMD's launches (yet) and this seems to be the first and only site that has any such info. I will be doing more for you on these numbers but I hope to get some data in still, especially out of Latin America where we only have the one Mexico data point.

Tomi Ahonen :-)

[Chris Vail]

I don't think T Mobile or AT&T sell Nokia smartphones. I went into a T Mobile store when I got my Nokia 6 because the sim card in my old Galaxy smartphone did not fit the Nokia slot. The clerk in the T Mobile store trimmed the sim card and it worked in my Nokia (otherwise, I'd have had to get another sim, which T Mobile had).

[Tomi T Ahonen]

Hi Chris

THANKS !!! That is what I thought... hopefully some day (read: month) soon one of the US carriers also decides to try a Nokia smartphone haha..

Tomi Ahonen :-)

[Tomi T Ahonen]

Hi all Nokia lovers...

Interesting milestone for HMD. In its return efforts, the country-support of Nokia Android smartphones is already now larger than what Elop allowed for the ill-fated Nokia N9 running on MeeGo. If you remember, Elop the idiot limited the availability of the N9 to only 29 countries that were mostly tiny and obscure countries from Kazakhstan to New Zealand. Even Hong Kong with 7 million people was 'too big' for Elop to let the N9 be sold, so that its market success could be minimized as much as possible, to not be compared to the far-inferior Lumia series on Windows that Elop preferred.

So hooray. 'Real' Nokia on a platform 'beyond Symbian' has already now been accepted to more countries than the best that Elop allowed N9 and MeeGo to ever get to...

An interesting milestone of note. We have already 31 countries in the list (and growing).

Tomi Ahonen :-)

[Tomi T Ahonen]

To all

I dug around the various Latin American carrier websites with my non-existent Spanish and Portuguese (=Brazil) language skills and it does seem like there is no Nokia handset support in LatAm (yet) apart from Mexico. I asked my Twitter followers and got a few retweets of the request but nobody responded with any observations, while in Europe, Asia, Africa and Middle East, there were immediate responses.

So it looks like currently HMD hasn't yet gotten the Southern American continent (and Central America) onto their launch plan.

Am continuing the digging and asking Twitter followers for more info.

Tomi Ahonen :-)

[Tomi T Ahonen]

Hi Everybody

Count is now 62 carriers in 32 (out of 40 sampled) countries with at least some HMD Nokia smartphone support (at least a carrier is selling Nokia) with 8 of 40 countries finding no support so far. In 8 countries all carriers support Nokia already. In a few countries the advertising is so serious that there are TV ads on the air with Nokia smartphones.

Tomi Ahonen :-)

[Elo Petersen]

Denmark: 3 is also selling Nokia. The only major carrier not selling Nokia is Telia.So, the carriers selling Nokia cover close to 90% of the Danish market. Apart from this it's important to note that most phones in Denmark are NOT sold on carrier contracts. Thus, all major electronic shops, both on and off-line also sell Nokia smartphones. I have not seen any news about sales but it's not just one Nokia model to test the waters - most have all models for sale as far as I can see.