Nokia's Satellite Venture With ICEYE and Inseego Divestment Shape Pre-Earnings Narrative

Nokia shares closed at EUR 9.47, up 2.2%, after unveiling an ICEYE satellite partnership and completing the sale of its FWA unit to Inseego.

Nokia shares finished Friday's session at EUR 9.47, a gain of 2.2%, as a broadly supportive tone across US equity markets following the latest American jobs report gave the Finnish telecom equipment maker a lift. The advance also pushed the stock above its 50-day moving average of EUR 8.82, a level that had been capping momentum in recent weeks.

The Helsinki-based group is in the thick of a strategic overhaul, with investors weighing a mix of new partnerships, portfolio pruning and an upcoming set of quarterly figures that will test whether the repositioning is translating into tangible financial results.

Sovereign Satellite Communications Take Shape

At the heart of the recent news flow is a partnership unveiled Thursday between Nokia and ICEYE, a specialist in radar satellite technology. The two companies agreed to jointly develop sovereign satellite communication systems in low Earth orbit, aimed squarely at government and defense customers. According to Reuters, the initiative targets agencies active in defense, border security and disaster response. Nokia has indicated that the first satellites under the arrangement are expected to launch in 2028.

The tie-up gives Nokia a foothold in the market for resilient security and defense communications — an infrastructure play designed to keep government agencies connected even under demanding conditions. For the company, it represents a meaningful extension of its networking expertise beyond conventional mobile networks, anchoring its know-how in a segment where demand is rising.

FWA Business Handover Completes

While those forward-looking ambitions take shape, management is simultaneously streamlining the existing product lineup. On Thursday, Inseego closed its acquisition of Nokia's Fixed Wireless Access business. As part of the transaction, Nokia received roughly 1.9 million Inseego shares, equivalent to about an 11% stake. The Finnish company also secured warrants to acquire additional shares, and committed to a $10 million cash payment to Inseego due by October 15, 2026. Inseego separately confirmed the closing and noted that Nokia had pledged further funds for development work under the same agreement.

The divestment allows Nokia to shed a peripheral activity and concentrate resources on business lines deemed more strategically significant, reinforcing a push toward core, higher-margin network technologies.

Network Software Deployments and Alliances

Nokia's core networking operations have not stood still. Zain KSA, the Saudi telecom operator, has rolled out the Nokia Deepfield Cloud Intelligence platform across more than 100 cities in Saudi Arabia, giving the carrier real-time visibility into network operations and supporting ongoing optimization. Nokia announced the deployment on September 29.

A separate collaboration with Microsoft, disclosed on September 17, links the Nokia Data Suite with Microsoft Fabric, with the goal of enabling automated, data-driven workflows across telecom networks. That same day, research firm B. Riley initiated coverage of Nokia with a Buy rating and a $15 price target.

Index Inclusion and the Earnings Countdown

Market attention has also been drawn to Nokia's addition to the EURO STOXX 50 index, which took effect on September 21. With the latest share price gain, the stock is trading above its 50-day average.

For investors, the next scheduled update now comes into focus. Nokia will publish its financial results for the third quarter and the first nine months of 2026 on October 22, 2026. Those figures will offer the clearest read yet on how the company's repositioning and recent portfolio adjustments are feeding through to its operating performance.