• Nokia has stuck a ‘for sale’ sign in its ‘enterprise campus edge’ unit as part of its new company revamp
• Enterprise campus edge includes some aspects of its private 4G/5G wireless networks offering 
• A number of industry commentators took this to mean Nokia is quitting the private 5G sector 
• But the vendor says there has been some ‘confusion’ and that it remains ‘committed’ to supplying enterprises with radio and core platform products

There’s a lot to digest from this week’s strategy update by Nokia, but one of the details – the inclusion of the vendor’s enterprise campus edge unit in its ‘surplus to requirements’ Portfolio Businesses segment – has generated a notable, occasionally histrionic, reaction from some industry commentators, as that unit includes elements of its seemingly successful private 4G/5G networks proposition. Nokia has now issued a statement to address the “confusion” in the industry about its private wireless networks strategy, to which it is still “committed”, according to a company spokesperson. 

The immediate reaction to Nokia’s announcement that its enterprise campus edge business is no longer core to its strategy and is, along with several other units, up for sale, is perhaps not surprising, given how prominent Nokia has been in the private wireless networks sector over the past decade. It has to be said, though, that the confusion surrounding its position is partly the vendor’s own fault for not clearly explaining its private wireless networks strategy during the hours-long capital markets day it held earlier this week.  

So what’s happening? 

Nokia’s private wireless networks business, part of which has been delivered by the enterprise campus edge team, has been a qualified success, especially in recent years, and the vendor is widely regarded as one of the market leaders: At the end of September it had accumulated 960 private 4G/5G network customers, giving it a market share of about 50% (as calculated by the GSA industry body, which doesn’t include public network slices in its stats). 

However the market is viewed, Nokia has built itself an enviable position. 

By essentially sticking a ‘for sale’ sign in its enterprise campus edge unit, is Nokia preparing to exit the private wireless networks sector, which is expected to grow significantly in the coming years? 

Not so, according to the vendor.  

“Nokia’s leadership position and commitment to the private 5G market remains unchanged,” a spokesperson told TelecomTV in a statement emailed in response to our questions. “Nokia continues to sell radios for private wireless deployments together with Nokia and third-party core [platforms]. As communicated at our capital markets day, Nokia’s key customer segments include not only telcos, AI and cloud but mission-critical enterprises, including defence.” Not quite communicated well enough, it seems. 

The ‘new’ strategy is, according to the spokesperson, not that much different to Nokia’s current approach to the private wireless networks sector, where it wants to get its radio units and core (whether its own or from a partner) products into enterprise deployments but not tread on the toes of the telcos that are trying to forge systems integration and services relationships with the enterprises. Many of Nokia’s private wireless network engagements are now through telco and systems integrator channels, according to Nokia. 

What the vendor is offloading is its DAC (Digital Automation Cloud) and edge platform software that, as provisioned, is more of an integration than a product sale, according to the vendor. “We’re still going to be serving private 5G wireless systems to enterprises, but through communications service providers, which is what we’re doing now anyway,” the spokesperson told TelecomTV. 

The spokesperson also stated that most of Nokia’s private wireless network revenues come from the hardware products and that the software elements contribute only a small slice of the sales. Nokia declined to share financial details, however. 

So, overall, a bit of a fudge, but Nokia’s position, albeit one that it didn’t make too clear when communicating its new strategy, is that it’s still a major player in the private wireless networks sector. 

Now let’s see if it can make that strategy work. 

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV