Nokia and Oracle are expected to formally announce a deal which will enable Oracle customers to access Nokia's growing data and location services.

Financial details of the deal can only be speculated, but because Oracle sells to enterprises rather than customers, the reach of Nokia's Navteq mapping service is expected to expand significantly as the Finnish company could soon cater to a brand new channel of users.

Nokia has for a while been intending to increase the customer base of its mapping services, which came into being when it bought Navteq for $8.1 billion back in 2007. It is already a major player in the satellite navigation industry, but is now bringing its technology to mobile phones and other applications.

This follows the recent fiasco surrounding Apple's botched new mapping app.