NEW YORK, Feb 20, 2026, 07:41 EST — Premarket
- Nokia’s U.S.-listed stock barely budged in premarket action.
- Belgium’s Citymesh just launched its new 5G Core, running as “software-as-a-service” on AWS.
- Traders are eyeing the potential for more customers to come on board before Mobile World Congress kicks off in March.
Nokia’s U.S. shares hovered around $7.60 in premarket hours Friday, little changed after a four-day rally that’s left the stock near its recent peak.
Timing is key here. With operators holding off on hefty initial purchases and favoring simpler upgrades, network equipment vendors are leaning harder into software and cloud-based offerings.
Nokia puts a premium on real-world customers over flashy presentations. Its Core SaaS initiative targets a shift to subscriptions, moving the mobile “core”—that central hub for routing calls and data—into a model that flexes with demand.
The ADR picked up 2.3% to close at $7.60 on Thursday, with roughly 50 million shares changing hands, Investing.com figures show.
Nokia announced Thursday that Belgium’s Citymesh has launched what the company bills as the world’s first commercial mobile service powered by 5G Core SaaS on Amazon Web Services. Citymesh CTO Robin Leblon said the new approach enables the operator to “scale faster” and reduce “upfront investment.” Nokia Corporation | Nokia
“Software-as-a-service” boils down to paying for software by subscription instead of purchasing and hosting it yourself. Nokia says its approach lets operators scale up without the hassle of hardware, while also allowing customers to tap into network features via APIs.
Nokia’s Kal De described Telecom SaaS as “a paradigm shift,” according to Telecoms.com, as operators push to make their core networks increasingly cloud-native. Telecoms
Nokia keeps leaning further into software and services—a space crowded with Ericsson, other big network players, and now a wave of cloud-native outfits all out to win a piece of operator spending.
The downside risk hasn’t gone away. Large operators are often slow to overhaul core systems, and public cloud moves can hit snags—security, regulatory, or performance-related—that end up dragging out project timelines and deferring budgets.
Nokia closed out Thursday in Helsinki at 6.35 euros a share.
Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is up next, running March 2-5. Nokia plans to show off its core network technology as the sector descends on the city.
