Nokia and Ericsson both hailed healthy sales of private 5G networks to enterprises this week, to boost their final-quarter and full-year 2024 results. Nokia went furthest, to say it had a “record” quarter at the end of last year for new private 5G (and 4G) customers (‘logos’), adding a total of 55 in the period, to finish the year with 850-odd “customers” in total, and to maintain its “leadership globally” for private 5G installations. But Ericsson was also compelled to crow about the performance of its newly-organised ‘enterprise wireless solutions’ unit, claiming 19 percent and 17 percent jumps in the three months and 12 months to the end of 2024, compared with equivalent year-ago periods.
Overall, most sales went south for Nokia in the year – although there was a notable upturn at the end of it. The Finish firm said total net sales were down nine percent in 2025 (to €19.222 billion), even as they rallied 10 percent in the final quarter (to €5.983 billion). Profit rose 12 percent to €2.619 billion in the year. But its biggest divisions, network infrastructure and mobile networks, both saw full-year tumbles, by six percent and 21 percent (to €6.518 billion and €7.725 billion). Its cloud and network services business posted a sales decline of six percent in the year, too, ending on €3.022 billion. Full-year sales to service providers fell 15 percent to €15.085 billion; sales to enterprises fell four percent to €2.18 billion).
But Nokia was bullish on private networks. Pekka Lundmark, president and chief executive at Nokia, called out Nokia’s ‘enterprise campus edge’ offering, alongside ‘core networks’, for driving up the performance of the cloud and network services business, notably in the fourth quarter when sales rallied by eight percent. “Both… grew strongly,” he said. “Nokia continues to expand its presence in private wireless, now with 850 customers.” Taking enterprise sales across its units, a statement said: “Enterprise net sales declined by five percent… in [the quarter], with declines in web-scale customers… partially offset by stable net sales with other enterprises.”
Nokia also called out its private-5G parent-division’s sales in North America and Asia Pacific. Almost a quarter (24 percent) of its private 4G/5G customers are in North America, suggesting its “record” quarter for private network sales took hold in the region. Lundmark went on to flag its release of a drone-in-a-box solution with Motorola Solutions, plus the expansion of its industrial devices portfolio, and a first field-area network (FAN) private 4G/5G deployment in the electric utility sector, with Southern California Edison (SCE) in the US.
By contrast, Ericsson said less about private 5G sales specifically, but was equally as bullish about in its own way. The Swedish firm – which is behind its Finnish rival in the private networks space, but recovering ground potentially, and way ahead, in the traditional telco market, notably in North America – posted a parallel series of declines, albeit less severe. Its total net sales were down five percent in the year, to SEK247.9 billion, even as they rose two percent in the final quarter, and as adjusted profit (EBITA) jumped 49 percent to SEK 22.1 billion. But sales of networks were down six percent to SEK158.2 billion; sales of cloud software and services were almost flat, down by a percentage point, to SEK62.6 billion in the year.
Ericsson’s enterprise sales were SEK24.9 billion in the year, versus SEK25.7 billion in 2023 – of which its enterprise wireless solutions division, carrying its private 5G systems and Cradlepoint hardware products to market, contributed SEK4.9 billion (up 17 percent in the year, from SEK 4.2 billion in 2023). Ericsson did not provide any pull-out stats about private 4G/5G sales, specifically. Expect more from both firms at MWC in early March. Börje Ekholm, president and chief executive at Ericsson, said: “In enterprise, our priority remains stabilising the commercial performance in the current portfolio and driving growth in areas such as mission critical and enterprise private networks.”
The full-year report makes repeated reference to the company’s focus on “more profitable market segments” within its enterprise group, with “lower sales in [its] ‘global communications platform’ partly offset by growth in enterprise wireless solutions”. It stated: “Sales growth in enterprise wireless solutions accelerated to 19 percent year-on-year, reflecting strong growth in private 5G and neutral host solutions.” Ekholm added: “Our commitment remains to put high-performing, programmable and differentiated networks at the centre of the digitalisation of enterprise and society.”
