Nokia made major announcements this April, highlighting its role in 5G, broadband, and data center innovation. From powering large-scale events with private wireless networks to achieving the world's first cross-border 5G slice handover, the company is pushing technological boundaries. Read about the developments in detail below:
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1. Nokia, Digita and CoreGo Expand Partnership to Power Events with Private 5G Networks
Nokia and Digita have announced an expanded partnership with CoreGo, a Finnish company specializing in payment and access control systems for events, to deliver private wireless connectivity to large-scale Finnish and international events. "This collaboration has enabled multiple deployments in the last two years, benefited sports and festival organizers with reliable connectivity, and significantly improved the customer experience of over 2 million event attendees in Europe," Nokia said in a joint statement on April 10, 2025.
The CoreGo POS, combined with Nokia]s Digital Automation Cloud (DAC) and private 5G technology, deployed by Digita, provides real-time data transfer for critical onsite services. These include payment terminals, access control, ticket validation, inventory systems, and digital signage—components essential for the operation of modern and large events.
The mobile nature of the CoreGo point-of-sale (POS) system, combined with Nokia's private wireless network, allows organizers to quickly deploy and manage connectivity tailored to individual venue requirements.
"Private 5G networks deployed with powerful edge cloud processing capabilities are transforming the event industry," said Michael Aspinall, Head of Sales, Enterprise Campus Edge, Europe at Nokia. "Event visitors now have secure access to well-connected services from the moment they purchase their ticket to when they depart the venue. We have successfully collaborated with Digita and CoreGo on multiple projects, and it is great to see that private 5G technology proves its capability in securing reliable data transmission at large events."
The private 5G network also supports advanced applications such as real-time analytics, geo-location services, and critical staff communications, offering organizers enhanced situational awareness and control.
Hannu Elomaa, CEO and Founder of CoreGo, emphasized the solution's impact: "Our goal is to improve the customer experience and support the organization and event workers in the best possible way by enabling real-time situational awareness."
Pekka Koskinen, Head of Sales, Private Networks at Digita, added, "This agreement strengthens our expertise in delivering high-quality, scalable, and reliable network solutions, supporting our strategy to expand into the Nordics. The Nokia technology ensures that event data transfer works reliably and efficiently."
2. Telia and Nokia Achieve Cross-Border 5G Slice Handover Trial with Finnish Defence Forces
Telia Finland has announced what it calls the world's first 5G Standalone (5G SA) slice handover between multiple countries on a live network, in collaboration with Nokia and the Finnish Defence Forces. Conducted in Finland as part of a broader Nordic defense exercise in March, the trial showcased uninterrupted connectivity over a dedicated 5G SA network slice while transitioning across three separate networks in three different countries.
This trial represents a significant milestone in advancing critical 5G capabilities for defense and other mission critical industries, Nokia said on April 9, 2025.
This capability is crucial for modern defense forces, as military personnel increasingly operate in coalitions beyond their national territories while requiring uninterrupted access to mission-critical applications and services, Nokia explained.
"This trial marks a significant milestone in showcasing the dual-use possibilities of 5G for defense while also enhancing communication capabilities within the NATO domain," said Jarmo Vahatiitto, Major General, Finnish Defense Command, Chief of C5. We are eager to explore further opportunities for integrating 5G into our operations.
"This trial meets the Defense Forces' needs and proves that commercial 5G networks can be utilized also in this domain," commented the CTO at Telia Finland.
"Seamless 5G slice continuity over country borders is a breakthrough for defense operations, enabling secure and reliable communications for collaborative missions that extend beyond national territories," said the President of Mobile Networks at Nokia.
Utilizing Nokia's 5G Core Software as a Service (SaaS) platform and AirScale 5G base stations powered by ReefShark chipsets, the trial was conducted over Telia's commercial network. Nokia's MantaRay network management system was also employed to ensure consolidated network view and operational efficiency.
3. Nokia and Fibrus Sign Five-Year Deal to Boost Broadband Network
Nokia and Fibrus have entered into a five-year agreement to deploy Nokia's Deepfield network analytics and security solution across Fibrus' broadband infrastructure in Northern Ireland and Cumbria. The deployment follows a successful trial and aims to strengthen Fibrus' defense against cyber threats while optimizing network performance for its customer base.
Fibrus, which has already connected over 100,000 customers and delivered fiber broadband to nearly 400,000 premises, will integrate Nokia Deepfield to enhance visibility into its network traffic. The solution will enable real-time analytics, helping the company detect and mitigate Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks and ensure consistent delivery of broadband services.
"The Deepfield solution from Nokia gives us the tools to understand our traffic better, protect against potential threats, and reduce operational costs. This partnership allows us to futureproof the digital infrastructure in the areas we serve, maintaining the highest level of service and security for our 100,000-strong customer base," said the Chief Operating Officer at Fibrus.
Nokia says Fibrus will proactively manage the rapid growth of its network, driven by a 50 percent take-up rate of fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) services, including 2 Gbps products. The scalability of Deepfield will allow Fibrus to manage future technologies, including 25G, 50G, and 100G PON.
The Vice President and Country General Manager, UK&I at Nokia, said: "The Nokia Deepfield solution brings advanced network analytics, ensuring that Fibrus can maintain a secure and reliable network. As a full-solution provider for FTTH operators, Nokia delivers high-performance, purpose-built technologies that integrate seamlessly into existing infrastructure, offering long-term support for smart, scalable operations."
According to the official release, Nokia has been a key technology partner to Fibrus since 2020, supporting the delivery of broadband to underserved and rural communities in Northern Ireland.
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4. Nokia Named Leader and Outperformer in GigaOm Radar Report for Data Center Switching
Nokia has once again been recognized as a Leader and Outperformer in the GigaOm Radar Report for Data Center Switching, marking the fourth consecutive year. "Nokia's Data Center solution was recognized for its extensive hardware portfolio, operations and management, strong NetOps suitability and focus on AI capabilities," Nokia said on April 7, 2025.
GigaOm evaluated nine leading Data Center switching vendors based on a comprehensive set of criteria. Nokia's Data Center Fabric solution stood out for its hardware portfolio, advanced operational tools, strong support for NetOps practices, and forward-looking AI integration, according to the official release.
"Nokia was classified as an Outperformer given its strong feature delivery in the last year, which resulted in strong score results across the report's key and emerging features. The Nokia solution can be easily integrated into existing heterogeneous deployments, making it easy for organizations to ramp up their Nokia-based data center network deployments," said Andrew Green, Analyst at GigaOm.
At the core of Nokia's offering is its suite of switching platforms, including the 7250 IXR series for data center spine deployments, the 7220 IXR series for data center leaf and spine deployments, and the 7215 IXS platform for out-of-band management. These platforms support port speeds from 1 GbE to 800 GbE, ensuring versatility for a wide range of data center environments.
Supporting the hardware is SR Linux, Nokia's microservices-based Network Operating System, which enables greater flexibility, automation, and integration with AI tools, including Large Language Model (LLM) support for natural language-driven network insights. Nokia's NetOps Development Kit (NDK) was highlighted as a key differentiator, offering deep programmability and integration capabilities for network teams.
Further enhancing operational efficiency is the Nokia Event-Driven Automation (EDA) platform, enabling automation across design, deployment, and day-to-day operations. This automation framework contributed to high marks in reliability, fault tolerance, and disaster recovery—critical areas for large-scale data center networks.
"For the fourth year in a row, Nokia has been named a Leader and Outperformer in the GigaOm Radar Report for Data Center Switching—confirming that our Data Center Fabric solution delivers the reliability, ease of use, automation and energy efficiency our customers need," said the Vice President of Product Management, IP Networks at Nokia.
GigaOm notes that data center switches are evolving to enhance these capabilities as enterprises transition to an ’application-first’ orientation and evolve to embrace AI-driven applications and use cases, Nokia highlighted.
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5. Nokia Named a Visionary in 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Data Center Switching
Nokia has been recognized as a Visionary in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Data Center Switching. Based on specific criteria established by the research organization, Nokia is cited for overall Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute, the company announced on April 3, 2025.
At a time when data centers must power new innovations such as AI in addition to their existing application workloads, Nokia said these modern environments require reliability, ease of operation and energy efficiency.
The Nokia data center switching portfolio includes the 7220 and 7250 IXR data switching platforms, Service Router (SR) Linux network operating system, and the Event-Driven Automation (EDA) management platform. Nokia also provides support for Community SONiC-based data center switching solutions. Nokia said its portfolio enables seamless connectivity and high performance to support business-critical data center workloads and applications including AI.
Furthermore, Nokia's automation capabilities help customers simplify and streamline operations across design, deployment, and ongoing management stages. Nokia's data center fabric supports interface speeds up to 400 GbE, 800 GbE, and beyond.
Furthermore, Nokia holds a 4.7 out of 5-star rating on Gartner Peer Insights in data center switching, based on 15 overall reviews as of April 2, 2025.
"The data center market is hot right now, and it can be hard to separate hype from facts, theory from practice. We believe independent assessments such as the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Data Center Switching help. Nokia is one of a few suppliers with a compelling vision of where data center networking ought to go. And we aren’t alone in thinking this. Microsoft, Nscale, Kyndryl, Lenovo and more agree. If you need reliability and automated operations, Nokia simply has to be considered," said Michael Bushong, Vice President of Data Center, Nokia.
Gartner's Magic Quadrant is widely recognized as a trusted benchmark in IT decision-making.
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6. Nokia Completes the Share Buyback Program Launched in November 2024
Nokia Corporation announced on April 2, 2025 that it has completed its share buyback program announced on November 22, 2024, aimed at offsetting the dilutive impact of its acquisition of Infinera. The program concluded on April 2, 2025, with the repurchase of 150 million shares at an average price of approximately EUR 4.69, amounting to a total investment of around EUR 703 million.
Following the completion of the program, Nokia now holds 220,509,131 shares. The repurchases were carried out through public trading on Nasdaq Helsinki and selected multilateral trading facilities, and were executed as directed buybacks—meaning they were not conducted in proportion to existing shareholder holdings.
Nokia expects to cancel the acquired shares in April 2025.
