Nokia Siemens Networks announced an agreement to sell its Optical Networks business unit, as part of its plan to focus its operations on the mobile broadband market.

According to Rajeev Suri, CEO of NSN: “Our strategic focus on our core markets has enabled us to concentrate our energy and investment in areas such as LTE where we have strengthened our global leadership position.”

The Optical Networks unit is being sold to private equity firm Marlin Equity Partners, for an undisclosed sum.

It will subsequently be positioned as an “independent new company with financial resources committed to building a leadership position in the optical networking market”.

“We are making a major commitment to this sector, and have significant capital under management that we intend to use as a catalyst for consolidation,” said Nick Kaiser, a co-founder and partner at Marlin Equity Partners.

NSN has already announced a number of disposals of non-core businesses, including the sale of its IPTV unit to Accenture, fixed broadband access division to Adtran, and broadband wireless business to CN Tetragen.

It is also reported to be in talks over the sale of its BSS/OSS activities.

Late last week, microwave technology company DragonWave said it had closed its acquisition of NSN’s microwave transport business in China, having met the necessary regulatory requirements.