Nokia to acquire software firm Comptel for $370 million

HELSINKI (AP) - In a move to further focus on software technology, Nokia says it has offered to acquire software company Comptel for some 347 million euros ($370 million).

The Finland-based telecom networks provider says the cash deal is aimed at providing communications and digital services "across physical, virtual and hybrid networks."

Nokia said Thursday that Comptel, an international software company based in Helsinki and a longtime partner of Nokia, processes some 20 percent of the world's daily mobile usage data with more than 2 billion end users.

Nokia has increasingly expanded into software technology since becoming one of the leading network providers after last year's purchase of the French-U.S. Alcatel-Lucent.

Nokia, once the world's No.1 mobile phone maker, sold off its ailing cellphone division to Microsoft in 2014.