Nokia has posted a net loss of euro 969 million for the third quarter of 2012, say news reports. The company has reported a 19 per cent fall in revenue, while the Nokia Group’s net sales for this period stood at euro 7.2 billion, compared to euro 7.5 billion in the second quarter of this year.

In a statement, the company said that the sales volume of the Lumia device in the third quarter decreased quarter-on-quarter to 2.9 million units. Meanwhile, the volume of mobile handsets sold in the third quarter increased quarter-on-quarter to 77 million units, with the Asha device registering sales volume of 6.5 million units.

Commenting on the results, Stephen Elop, chief executive officer, Nokia said, "As we expected, the third quarter of this year was a difficult one for our devices and services business. However, we are pleased that we have shifted the Nokia Group to operating profitability on a non-IFRS basis.”

“In the third quarter, we continued to manage through a tough transitional period for our smart devices business as we shared various product innovations ahead with our new line of Lumia products,” the company said in statement.

“In our mobile phones business, the positive consumer response to our new Asha full touch smartphones translated into strong sales. And in the third quarter, our mobile phones business delivered a solid quarter with sequential sales growth and improved contribution margin”.

In the location and commerce business, the company said it made progress establishing its platform offering with customers like Amazon. It said that Nokia Siemens Networks had a successful quarter in which it achieved record profitability on a non-IFRS basis and the Nokia Siemens Networks cash balance increased for the fourth quarter in a row.