HELSINKI (AFP) - Nokia Siemens Networks said on Monday it would buy some wireless network infrastructure assets from the US firm Motorola for 1.2 billion US dollars (926 million euros).

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In a joint statement, Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) and Motorola said "the companies have entered into an agreement under which Nokia Siemens Networks will acquire the majority of Motorola's wireless network infrastructure assets for 1.2 billion US dollars in cash."

NSN said the move would strengthen its position as world number two in the telecom infrastructure industry, which has become increasingly integrated over the past years.

It said it expected the transaction "to significantly strengthen (its) presence globally, particularly in the United States and Japan."

The deal also signals the virtual end of an independent American company in the sector after Alcatel of France bough Lucent in 2006 and the failure of Canada's Nortel, which went bust in 2009.

Sweden's Ericsson, which also wants to develop in the North American market, picked up a division of Nortel's business that NSN was also interested in.

NSN will gain about 50 operators who are clients of Motorola, including China Mobile, Sprint and Verizon of the US, and Britain's Vodafone.

Some 7,500 employees, including those at large research facilities in the United States, China and India, will transfer to NSN from Motorola on completion of the transaction, the company said.

NSN said both firms expected to complete the deal, which needs regulatory approvals, by the end of 2010.

It added the deal would make it the number one foreign wireless vendor in Japan and strenghten its position as the number two telecom infrastructure maker in the world.

The infrastructure NSN is acquiring from Motorola includes mobile networks for second generation (GSM), third generation (CDMA and WCDMA) and fourth generation (LTE and WiMAX) services3.

Motorola is a market leader in WiMAX, for which it has 41 contracts in 21 countries.

The US giant announced on July 1 its intention to split its business in the first quarter of next year, separating products for consumers from its businesses making equipment.

NSN is a joint venture between Nokia, the world leader in making mobile phone handsets, and the German industrial group Siemens.

It said in November it wanted to develop its activities by means of takeovers and that it was looking first at the North American market.

NSN failed in two attempts to buy divisions from Nortel as the Canadian company was being broken up. One of these bids was lost to Ericsson.

Ericsson is the world number one telecom equipment maker, followed by NSN, Alcatel-Lucent and China's Huawei, according to Dow Jones Newswires.