Aurelius must build a new identity and win customer trust after acquiring Nokia’s ECE unit

Nokia announced on 13 October 2026 that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell its Enterprise Campus Edge (ECE) business to Aurelius, a private equity (PE) investor that specialises in corporate carve-outs. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2027, and financial terms have not been not disclosed. ECE has nearly 900 private network customers, around 1000 employees and annual sales of more than EUR170 million. 

We discussed the planned sale in an earlier article, including the assets covered by the transaction and Nokia’s motivation for divesting the business. 

ECE gives Aurelius a strong platform: it accounts for most of the private networks deployments that made Nokia the leading vendor worldwide, excluding China. However, ECE’s success as a standalone business will depend on how Aurelius answers several key questions, including whether it can establish a credible new brand, reassure customers of its long-term commitment and make the right choices about ECE’s portfolio, partnerships and target market.