Nokia held a series of Mission Critical Enterprise (MCE) analyst roundtables, online in September 2026, covering Energy/Utilities, Transportation/Railways, and Public Sector/Public Safety.

Since then, Nokia has announced the sale of its Enterprise Campus Edge (ECE) business to AURELIUS. The transaction includes the ECE portfolio and services and is expected to close in the first half of 2027. This research note does not cover the implications of this transaction.

Nokia’s central message, at the roundtables, was that operational networks in utilities, rail, aviation and public safety are increasingly becoming the “nervous system” of these organizations.; with networks moving from a supporting, enabling role to becoming a truly mission-critical element of their operations, along with AI-based intelligence deployed at the edge.

When networks fail, operations stop.

Nokia is moving from networks as infrastructure to networks as operational systems, which is particularly relevant for utilities, transportation and other mission-critical sectors, that need network automation and autonomy; enabling networks to become progressively embedded in MCE operational decision-making.

Companies mentioned in this report: Aurelius, Cisco, Athonet, Druid, Southern California Edison, Transpower New Zealand, Alstom, Cellnex, Avinor,