At today’s Investor Day, Nokia’s new CEO Justin Hotard announced that the Private Wireless (PW) unit will be moved into the Portfolio segment - essentially signaling the search for a new owner.
For many outside the industry, this landed as a shock.
For those of us who helped build the private wireless market… this was always coming.
Nokia has shifted from “we must do everything” to “we must partner better.”
Anyone who has been close to enterprise PW deployments knows the truth:
- Nokia and Ericsson have excellent radios,
- but what truly unlocked the private wireless revolution was the enterprise-designed mobile core - purpose-built for industrial use cases, with enterprise-grade support.
That’s exactly what we built at Athonet, later acquired by HPE in 2023:
a core built to work with any radio - Nokia, Ericsson, Samsung, or any vendor with a unique form factor or USP.
Frankly, I don’t expect Ericsson to stay far behind. They were always a reluctant follower in private networks.
Because here’s the reality:
Private networks are a fantastic business - just not one that fits the DNA of traditional telco infrastructure giants.
They require enterprise focus, use-case obsession, and a very different commercial motion.
What I do expect now:
- Even closer partnerships between Nokia’s radio business and third-party core providers
- Faster innovation from pure-play PW companies
- A healthier, more open ecosystem - especially as private networks become the on-ramp for industrial AI
To everyone building in PW today: the future is bright.
This is a market that rewards agility, specialization, and deep enterprise understanding - and there are plenty of dedicated players whose entire DNA is private networks.
Which brings me to a question…
Maybe this is the perfect time to relaunch UPTIME - the annual P5G gathering I used to host at Marconi’s Villa Griffone.
A truly open event: any core, any radio, any vendor, all welcome.
If you think it’s time to bring it back - let me know. 
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