Nokia is looking at a deal to buy US vendor Juniper Networks and merge it with NSN, according to German publication Manager Magazin Online.

Speculation is rife in the infrastructure market about the next stage of consolidation.  NSN was linked to a deal at the end of last year with the recovering Alcatel-Lucent.

Talk has circulated particularly around NSN as it moves to the heart of the new Nokia, following the imminent sale of the group’s handset business to Microsoft.

And Nokia will have net cash of €7 billion to €8 billion on its balance sheet, following the Microsoft deal.

The German report In this latest report, it is said NSN’s CEO, Rajeev Suri, travelled to the US for talks with Juniper at the end of last year.

On the agenda was closer cooperation and a possible merger. Such a move would strengthen NSN in the US where historically it has been weak.

Juniper would cost $13.7 billion, making it big for NSN to swallow –although the deal could be eased somewhat by Juniper’s $3.1 billion cash reserves.

However, a deal is not thought to be imminent.

None of the companies concerned commented publicly on the possibility of deal.