Nokia to sell private wireless unit with 900 customers to AURELIUS
The unit sells private 4G and 5G networks, industrial devices and edge software to factories, mines, ports and airports. It will run as a standalone company.
Vitaly Gariev / UnsplashNokia has signed a deal to sell its Enterprise Campus Edge business to AURELIUS, a German private equity investor, the company said on Tuesday, October 13. Neither side disclosed a price. Nokia expects to complete the sale in the first half of 2027, once regulators approve and employee consultations are done.
Campus Edge is the part of Nokia that sells private wireless networks directly to companies. Its close to 900 customers include factories, mines, logistics firms, airports, ports and power plants. It sells private 4G and 5G networks, industrial devices, on-site edge computing for factory and plant systems, and software for industrial AI. Its staff move with it. Companies that run their plant or port network on Nokia gear will have a new owner behind that contract in 2027.
The sale was expected. At its capital markets day in November 2025, Nokia moved Campus Edge into a group of businesses it no longer counts as core, and CEO Justin Hotard said most of the private networking business was systems integration work that did not rest on Nokia's own technology. Nokia kept its private networks for utilities, rail and public safety. A spokesperson told TelecomTV at the time that Nokia would keep selling radios for private networks, mostly through telecom operators. TelecomTV reported that the Digital Automation Cloud and edge software were the parts Nokia would let go.
AURELIUS buys pieces of larger companies and runs them on their own. In 2025 it agreed to buy Landis+Gyr's EMEA metering business at an enterprise value of $215 million, and it closed its purchase of DCC's IT distribution business in the UK and Ireland, which includes Exertis.
What IT teams should do
- If you run a Nokia private wireless network, pull the contract and check support end dates, the change-of-control or assignment clause and who owns the software roadmap after closing.
- Ask your Nokia account team which products move to AURELIUS and which stay with Nokia, especially radios and core software.
- Hold multi-year renewals until the new owner publishes its support and pricing plans. Our wireless networking guide covers alternatives if you need them.
- Security buyers facing a similar change of owner can read our story on IonQ buying Elisity.
Sources
- Nokia: Nokia to sell Enterprise Campus Edge business to AURELIUS
- TelecomLead: Nokia to sell Enterprise Campus Edge business to AURELIUS
- Fierce Network: Nokia to divide its private networking business, and likely sell its Enterprise Campus Edge unit
- TelecomTV: Nokia, 'We're not quitting the private 5G sector'
- Landis+Gyr: Landis+Gyr divests EMEA business to AURELIUS