What’s up with… Nokia, Telia Company, Zain & Ooredoo

• Nokia reveals €1.5bn of new AI and cloud orders in Q3 results
• Telia beats analyst expectations with strong quarterly revenue
• Zain Group and Ooredoo launch a tower JV

In today’s industry news roundup: Nokia is bigging up the impact of AI and cloud sales after beating its Q3 financial expectations; Telia also surpasses revenue expectations in its latest financial posting; Zain and Ooredoo launch a tower joint venture in Qatar and Kuwait; and much more!

Nokia reported third-quarter results with comparable operating profit of €605m on Thursday, a 35% increase from €448m in the same period last year, driven by growth in AI and cloud technology. The Finnish vendor recorded about €1.5bn (US$1.7 billion) in new orders from AI and cloud customers, making up a significant chunk of the 9% sales growth posted in its latest figures. Network infrastructure net sales grew 15% year on year on a constant currency basis, led by IP networks growth of 43% and optical networks growth of 18%. Nokia saw slower growth across mobile, however, where net sales were up 5% year on year, but it remains Nokia’s biggest segment, with €2.9bn in revenue, and an increase in operating profit to €420m. President and CEO Jason Hotard said: “Team Nokia continues to deliver on our commitments as we execute against our strategy. In Q3, we grew net sales by 9% and improved comparable operating margin by 220 basis points. We continue to simplify our portfolio, and we are on track to complete the Infinera integration by the end of 2026, one year ahead of plan with €200m of net synergies. Nokia’s strengths are uniquely suited to meet growing demands for AI infrastructure that is larger, more distributed and hyperconnected. We are investing where we can differentiate and co-innovate with hyperscalers.” However, operating profit for its third quarter fell 22% year on year to €196m, and operating margin declined to 3.8% from 5.4% which Nokia chalked up to accelerated restructuring and integration costs that saw the vendor lose more 14,000 jobs between 2020 and this year.

Telia Company reported higher-than-expected revenue in the third quarter of this year and operating profit at the Swedish telco was in line with expectations. Revenue rose 7.3% to 21,306m Swedish krona (SEK) ($2.15bn) beating analyst expectations of around SEK 20,725m ($2.10bn). Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) amounted to SEK 8,872m ($899m), up 2.9% year on year, versus expectations of SEK 8,792m ($889m). Service revenue increased 3.3% like for like, which Telia credited to strong development in Sweden, driven by TV and mobile, Norway and the Baltics. Telia president and CEO Patrik Hofbauer said: “Our business momentum continues, with further improvements in customer satisfaction across our footprint. Financial results were somewhat better than anticipated, due to solid service revenue growth and lower operational expenses. “We are determined to become an even simpler, faster and more efficient company, and after the end of the quarter, we announced proposals to localise our operations further. This would strengthen the role of our country units in meeting fast-evolving customer needs and delivering profitable growth, while supporting annual gross savings of SEK 1 billion.” Telia also revealed that 70% of its workforce now use AI in their daily work, helping to identify new sales opportunities, deliver more relevant customer offerings, accelerate software development and network analysis, and provide faster customer support.

Zain Group and Ooredoo have announced a new tower joint venture, combining their initial tower portfolios in Kuwait and Qatar. The 50:50 JV will bring together Zain Kuwait’s and Ooredoo Qatar’s respective towers to create a regional company with a portfolio of more than 4,000 assets. Additional tower portfolios are expected to be integrated progressively into the platform, subject to applicable closing conditions and required regulatory and other approvals. Ooredoo and Zain will each retain their active telecommunications infrastructure, including the technology, software and intellectual property required to operate and manage their telecommunications networks. Bader Al-Kharafi, Zain vice-chairman and group CEO, said: “This first closing of the tower platform marks a defining step in the evolution of digital infrastructure for both Zain and Ooredoo. It reflects our shared strategy of creating focused, scalable and sustainable platforms that unlock greater value from our assets while supporting the reduction of the region’s carbon footprint.”

Toshiba has launched its Quantum-Safe Networking (QSN) Platform aimed at supporting telecom operators looking to deploy quantum-safe networks. The platform has been built to help operators, datacentre service providers, enterprises and public-sector organisations protect critical data paths first and expand later, without rebuilding their networks to be quantum safe. Modern digital security relies heavily on asymmetric cryptography, which protects everything from banking to private messaging, but quantum computers use quantum mechanics to process information globally rather than sequencing through possibilities one by one. This means current levels of security could quickly be rendered insecure, with “harvest-now, decrypt-later” attacks already being deployed, according to the manufacturer. “Toshiba QSN Platform has been designed to provide a practical path to quantum-safe network adoption. We look forward to expanding Toshiba QSN Platform with telecommunications providers, datacentre operators and other critical infrastructure providers,” said Hiroshi Tsukino, vice president for the ICT Solutions division at Toshiba.

Veon has held talks with the government of Uzbekistan over plans to expand mobile network coverage, modernise telecommunications infrastructure and improve digital services. During a meeting held around the C5+1 summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, Uzbek digital technologies minister Sherzod Shermatov and Veon CEO Kaan Terzioğlu, discussed opportunities to strengthen cooperation in telecoms amid growing demand for digital services in Uzbekistan, according to a statement by the Uzbekistan Ministry of Digital Technologies. Veon provides connectivity and digital services across five markets, including Uzbekistan, where it operates through the Beeline Uzbekistan brand, which has been active in the country since 2006. Veon says it has invested more than $1.6bn in the country’s telecom sector since entering the market. The talks come in the same week that Veon announced an agreement to buy Rubicon Wireless, better known by its brand Perfectum, in a deal valued at $207m. Regulatory approval for the deal has already been given, with the purchase set to close before the end of this month, noted Veon in this announcement. 

Orange has completed the shutdown of its 2G network, turning off the legacy technology in the last 43 departments of mainland France where it was still operational. The French telco began the shutdown in March and switched off the last 2G mast on 20 October, it said in a statement. It had already turned off 2G in the French territory of Réunion last year. It plans to reallocate the 5MHz of 2G frequencies to its modern technologies, such as 4G and 5G, with further plans to shut off its 3G network in 2028. Rival French telcos Altice, which operates as SFR, and Bouygues Telecom have shared similar plans to retire their respective 2G networks this year too. “The Orange 2G mobile network has been permanently closed since 20 October 2026 across the entire metropolitan territory,” the company noted on its website. “2G is now giving way to more efficient 4G and 5G networks, in order to guarantee optimal quality of service to customers.”

– The staff, TelecomTV