“Nokia is dismantling one of the oldest conventions in the core business: the closed element management system.”

This Appledore Research Note examines Nokia’s Core Networks business following its September 2026 analyst update and the Core User Group in Munich. Nokia is refactoring its mobile core — packet core, voice, signalling, policy, charging and subscriber data — so that AI sits inside the products operators already run, rather than arriving as a new architecture.

We assess the design behind that ambition, from ontology-driven knowledge graphs to agentic workflows, and what Nokia’s move away from closed element management means for operators and competitors. We also look at Core SaaS and the Early Access Environment as a shift in the vendor–operator boundary.

In our view, the structural changes deserve as much attention as the AI framing. We give our view of where the propositions remain conceptual, and of the tension (not specific to Nokia) between deterministic networks and probabilistic AI.

For CSP core and operations strategy teams, OSS vendors and investors, this is an informed read on Nokia’s status and direction.

Companies referenced in this report: AWS, Boost Mobile, Citymesh, Comcast, Deutsche Telekom, ENEA, Ericsson, Google, Huawei, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, KPN, Mavenir, Nokia, NVIDIA, Proximus, Rakuten, Red Hat, Rogers, SoftBank, SUSE, Telefonica Germany, Telus, T-Mobile US, Tune Talk, ZTE