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Nokia CEO Justin Hotard advised a convention name with buyers that the corporate’s development is accelerating within the areas the place it has chosen to focus and make investments, highlighting AI-RAN as an rising alternative
In sum – what to know
AI-RAN advances – Nokia CEO Justin Hotard stated AI-RAN is nearing industrial deployment, with T-Cellular finishing a stay voice name and Elisa working voice, cellular knowledge and AI workloads concurrently on the platform.
Radio Networks develop – Cellular infrastructure elevated 5% in Q3, with radio networks up 10% on a constant-currency foundation, whereas core software program declined 13%.
AI drives demand – AI and Cloud gross sales rose 123% on a constant-currency foundation, supporting robust IP and optical networks development and more and more extending into Nokia’s telecom buyer base.
Nokia CEO Justin Hotard stated within the vendor’s earnings name that the corporate’s development is accelerating within the areas the place it has chosen to focus and make investments, highlighting AI-RAN as an rising alternative for the radio enterprise as Nokia reported stronger Q3 working efficiency.
Nokia’s reported web gross sales elevated 10% 12 months on 12 months to EUR 5.154 billion ($5.77 billion) in Q3 2026. On a constant-currency foundation, comparable web gross sales elevated 9%, whereas comparable working revenue rose 35% to EUR 605 million and comparable working margin expanded 220 foundation factors to 11.7%.
“AI and cloud was, once more, our largest development engine,” Hotard stated. “Cellular infrastructure grew within the quarter as our focus stays on profitability and bettering return on invested capital.”
Inside cellular infrastructure, radio networks web gross sales grew 10% on a constant-currency foundation. Nokia stated development was partly attributable to an acceleration of income from This fall into Q3, with gross sales growing throughout all areas and strongest development in EMEA and APAC, significantly Japan and India.
Core software program web gross sales declined 13% on a constant-currency foundation. Nokia attributed the decline to softness in sure purposes it’s de-emphasizing, alongside supply-chain constraints for server infrastructure.
Know-how requirements generated EUR 425 million in Q3 web gross sales, up 8% on a constant-currency foundation, pushed by license agreements signed over the previous 4 quarters and together with a typical profit from catch-up web gross sales.
AI-RAN strikes towards industrial deployment
Hotard positioned explicit emphasis on Nokia’s AI-RAN technique, describing the know-how as a option to rework the radio community right into a platform for bodily AI.
“With AI-RAN, we’re remodeling the radio community right into a platform for bodily AI,” Hotard stated. “That is vital for rising purposes similar to autonomous mobility, industrial automation, robotics, and augmented actuality.”
He stated the RAN is coming into a transition towards general-purpose computing, just like modifications beforehand seen in different elements of the know-how trade. “We’re positioning Nokia to guide this shift in partnership with Nvidia,” Hotard stated. “Nokia’s AI-native anyRAN software program, working on NVIDIA’s Aerial-RAN laptop, gives a software-defined basis for integrating AI-powered radio capabilities that enhance community capability and efficiency,” he added. In line with Hotard, the platform additionally gives clients with “a software program improve path to 6G.”
In the course of the name, Hotard stated T-Cellular had accomplished its first stay voice name over AI-RAN in its manufacturing community, whereas Finnish provider Elisa had run voice, cellular knowledge, and AI workloads concurrently on the identical AI-RAN platform in its industrial community. “Collectively, these milestones present that AI-RAN is nearing industrial deployment,” Hotard stated.
The broader Nokia-Nvidia AI-RAN ecosystem can also be increasing. At Nvidia’s GTC 2026 occasion in Berlin, the businesses stated practically 20 telecom operators had publicly introduced AI-RAN collaborations utilizing Nokia’s anyRAN software program and Nvidia ARC. T-Cellular just lately marked what the businesses described because the world’s first AI-RAN name on its industrial community in Bellevue, Washington, utilizing industrial ARC servers, Nokia’s Nvidia CUDA-accelerated RAN software program, huge MIMO radios, an current 5G Standalone core and a industrial smartphone. BT is planning stay AI-RAN trials in Birmingham in 2027, whereas Deutsche Telekom has validated the industrial platform in labs in Bonn and Oulu and plans discipline trials in 2027, whereas Orange is testing Nokia 5G software program on NvidiaARC for spectral-efficiency enhancements and edge companies in stay networks.
The corporate is positioning the know-how past conventional radio efficiency. At Nokia’s Radio World occasion in September, Hotard stated the corporate and companions DeepSig, ZayNar and Cohere demonstrated real-time sensing of the bodily world utilizing current wi-fi infrastructure. “This creates the potential for brand spanking new telco companies and a path to monetize AI,” Hotard stated.
Telecom clients and AI demand
Nokia’s telecom-provider enterprise remained broadly secure in Q3. Gross sales to telecommunication suppliers totaled EUR 3.640 billion, up 1% on a reported foundation and flat on a constant-currency foundation.
On the similar time, AI and cloud continued to be Nokia’s fastest-growing buyer phase. Gross sales to AI and cloud clients reached EUR 631 million, representing 126% reported development and 123% development on a constant-currency foundation. Hotard stated that this phase represented 12% of whole group web gross sales within the quarter, whereas order consumption elevated 118% 12 months on 12 months to EUR 1.5 billion.
“Demand from AI and cloud drove IP networks to develop 43% year-over-year as beforehand introduced design wins started to transform into income,” Hotard stated. Optical networks grew 18% on a constant-currency foundation, with Nokia reporting robust demand from AI and cloud clients and telecommunication suppliers. Hotard stated demand in each IP and optical networks continues to exceed provide.
The corporate additionally stated demand is extending into its telecom buyer base as operators make investments to help site visitors and infrastructure necessities related to AI and cloud.
Hotard additionally stated that Nokia had continued to simplify our portfolio and was on observe to finish the mixing of optical networks firm Infinera by the tip of the 12 months, having acquired it in 2025. The method is ready to be accomplished a 12 months forward of its unique plan, with Hotard highlighting this created €200 million in web synergies.