Nokia Siemens Networks has reached an agreement to acquire the wireless equipment business of rival Motorola. Through the deal, the Finnish-German joint venture hopes to gain greater access to the huge US market.

Nokia Siemens will pay $1.2 billion (928 million euros) for most of the wireless network manufacturing activities of Motorola under a deal announced on Monday. The companies hope to complete the deal, pending regulatory approval, by December.

Rumors of acquisition have been afloat ever since the US company announced plans earlier in the year to split itself into two companies – one for mobile and home devices and one for network infrastructure – and to sell one of the units.

Nokia Siemens has made no secret of its intentions to expand in the US, where the vendor has a small footprint. It faces tough competition from the Franco-American joint venture Alcatel-Lucent, Sweden’s Ericsson and, increasingly, China’s Huawei and ZTE.