Nokia has introduced its pioneering Core SaaS for 5G to provide communication service providers (CSPs) and enterprises the option of running the heart of their network through a highly flexible, fully automated, scalable software model that enables greater business agility and faster time to value for delivering and monetising network services.

• Nokia Core Software-as-Service (SaaS) is the first in the market with a complete core solution delivered in a SaaS delivery model
• Nokia Core SaaS is the company’s 10th SaaS service and expands its SaaS reach beyond areas like analytics, charging, data management, and security.

Through Nokia Core SaaS, operators and enterprises can move away from the legacy practice of deploying customised software on private infrastructure and therefore consume Nokia Core software on-demand, including 5G Packet Core, at a cost-effective subscription rate that eliminates the need for large upfront capital expenditures and avoids the need for on-site software updates and maintenance.

Nokia Core SaaS’s 5G Core services trials will begin shortly, with commercial availability expected for the first half of 2023. 

Nokia Core SaaS is the first complete 5G core solution to be delivered through a SaaS delivery model that includes all core cloud-native network functions.

Nokia is leading the 5G Standalone Core market, with over 70 CSP customers around the world. In addition, 25 of the top 40 CSPs by revenue rely on Nokia Core network products.

Roberto Kompany, Principal Analyst, Service Provider Networks at Omdia, said:

“As telecom SaaS goes more mainstream, we are seeing more solutions offered in the marketplace that provide operators with much-needed options for getting the most out of the network. Nokia’s launch of its Core SaaS offering through a subscription model today is a new dimension to telecom SaaS and I would expect to see more of this into 2023, as the marketplace more closely examines the potential benefits of going down this path.”

Fran Heeran, SVP & General Manager of Core Networks, Cloud and Network Services, at Nokia, said:

“Nokia Core SaaS changes the way core networks are built, deployed and run, with important customer benefits that include Network on demand, speed to market, and easy and fast scaling, in an affordable way. Nokia Core SaaS is not the core network we’ve known for decades, but something entirely different. And this reflects the technology leadership Nokia continues to deliver to the market.”