Quick Brief
- Citymesh is the world’s first operator to run a commercial mobile service on 5G Core SaaS
- Nokia’s Core SaaS for Business runs on AWS global infrastructure no on-premises hardware required
- Pay-as-you-grow subscription pricing replaces traditional telecom CapEx investment
- Enterprises in healthcare, airports, drone operations, and emergency response go live first
Belgium’s Citymesh activated the world’s first commercial mobile service on 5G Core SaaS on February 19, 2026 powered by Nokia and AWS. This isn’t a pilot. It isn’t a private network trial. It’s a live, enterprise-grade mobile service running entirely on a subscription-based cloud model, with no physical core hardware on the operator’s premises. For an industry that has spent decades buying, installing, and maintaining hardware, this changes the foundational cost structure of building a mobile network.
What Is 5G Core SaaS And Why It Took Until Now
Traditional telecom operators spend hundreds of millions building core networks hardware-heavy, vendor-locked, and slow to upgrade. Nokia’s Core SaaS for Business inverts that model entirely. It delivers the complete 5G core 4G/5G packet core, IMS, network slicing, IoT services, automation, and security as a subscription service hosted on AWS’s global cloud infrastructure.
The shift from CapEx to OpEx isn’t just accounting. It changes who can operate a mobile network. Smaller operators, private network builders, and enterprise-focused challengers can now launch commercial mobile services in timelines that traditional deployments made impossible. Citymesh deployed catalog-based service plans without requiring extensive telecommunications engineering or ongoing integration work for each new offering.
What is 5G Core SaaS?
5G Core SaaS delivers a complete mobile core network including 4G/5G packet core, network slicing, IoT, and IMS as a cloud-hosted subscription service. Operators skip upfront hardware costs, scale capacity on demand, and access new capabilities through APIs without custom engineering work. Nokia manages all operations and maintenance under a single subscription model.
How Citymesh Deployed This First-of-Its-Kind Network
Citymesh is Belgium’s fourth official mobile network operator, founded in 2006 under Cegeka. The company built its reputation across WiFi, IoT, 4G, and 5G for enterprise verticals events, logistics, healthcare, and public safety before acquiring MNO spectrum and launching as a full national operator competing against Proximus, Telenet, and Orange Belgium.
Robin Leblon, CTO of Citymesh, confirmed the architecture delivers exactly what the company needed: “With Nokia’s Core SaaS on AWS, we can scale faster, reduce complexity and upfront investment, and deliver secure, high-performance connectivity tailored to our enterprise customers”. The same platform simultaneously enables a new mobile offering for self-employed professionals and SMEs a segment Belgium’s legacy operators have historically underserved.
More than 300 Citymesh employees now back a network that, for the first time, is core-managed by Nokia and cloud-hosted by AWS, rather than built on operator-owned physical infrastructure.
Nokia’s Core SaaS for Business: What’s Inside
Nokia’s Core SaaS isn’t a simplified cloud wrapper. It’s the full telecom stack, delivered as a managed service. The service catalog includes:
- 4G EPC and 5G standalone core supporting both current and next-generation device ecosystems
- Network slicing isolated virtual segments per enterprise use case (high-reliability for hospitals, low-latency for drones)
- IMS core voice, video, and messaging infrastructure for full service delivery
- IoT connectivity services device management and M2M enablement at scale
- Automation and orchestration dynamic capacity scaling and AI-driven operations
- Security capabilities enterprise-grade controls meeting telecom compliance requirements globally
- API exposure network functions exposed to enterprise developers via standardized NEF interfaces
Nokia fully commissions, operates, and maintains every layer. Operators subscribe. They don’t manage hardware. That is the entire model shift.
What does Nokia’s Core SaaS for Business include?
Nokia Core SaaS for Business covers 4G and 5G packet core, network slicing, IMS core, IoT services, automation, and security under a single subscription. Nokia manages all infrastructure, updates, and operations. Operators scale capacity on demand and expose network capabilities through standardized APIs without any custom integration engineering.
Why AWS Not Private Infrastructure Powers This
Running telecom-grade core functions on public cloud infrastructure was considered operationally risky as recently as 2022. AWS changed that calculus. AWS’s multi-region architecture provides telecommunications-grade availability, and its security controls meet the stringent compliance requirements telecom operators face across global markets.
Fabio Cerone, Managing Director of EMEA Telco Business Unit at AWS, placed the significance directly: “Running on AWS, Nokia enables telecommunications operators to launch and scale telecommunications services with the elasticity, reliability, security, and trust the industry demands, while dramatically reducing operational complexity”. The technical advantage that makes this viable for enterprise deployments is elastic compute AWS infrastructure absorbs unpredictable demand spikes at events, airports, and emergency scenarios in real time, without idle pre-provisioned hardware sitting dormant between peaks.
Enterprise Sectors Live at Launch
Citymesh’s 5G Core SaaS deployment goes live across seven enterprise verticals simultaneously:
- Venues and events temporary networks deployed for large-scale gatherings without fixed infrastructure
- Airports high-density connectivity with security-grade traffic controls
- Hospitals mission-critical healthcare connectivity with network slicing for priority device traffic
- Offshore settlements remote industrial connectivity for energy and maritime sectors
- First responders dedicated emergency communications with guaranteed quality-of-service tiers
- Drone operators low-latency control links for commercial autonomous drone fleets
- Transportation connected vehicles, logistics, and fleet management at scale
Each vertical benefits from network slicing Citymesh’s single physical infrastructure serves a hospital’s critical devices on an isolated high-reliability slice while simultaneously running logistics IoT sensors on a cost-optimized segment, all from the same core
The Market Signal: What This Means for Operators Globally
Citymesh’s live deployment is not a Belgium-specific story. It is a proof of production readiness for the global telecom industry. According to Coherent Market Insights (2025), the global 5G core network market is forecast to grow from $4.57 billion in 2025 to $39.12 billion by 2032 and SaaS delivery models are positioned to capture a dominant share of that expansion.
Kal De, SVP of Product & Engineering, Core Software at Nokia, stated directly: “This groundbreaking announcement by Citymesh proves that 5G Core SaaS has moved from concept to production-ready reality“. Nokia’s Core SaaS for Business is now available to telecom providers worldwide, not just European operators.
For operators in high-growth markets like India where new 4G/5G challengers and enterprise private network deployments are accelerating this model removes the capital barrier that has historically delayed commercial launches.
How does 5G Core SaaS reduce telecom operator costs?
5G Core SaaS replaces upfront hardware purchases with a subscription model, eliminating capital investment in physical core equipment. Operators pay only for capacity consumed, scale on demand via cloud infrastructure, and avoid custom integration engineering. Nokia manages all operations, updates, and maintenance, converting CapEx into predictable OpEx.
Network Slicing: The Monetization Engine
The revenue architecture embedded in this deployment runs on network slicing. One physical network divides into isolated virtual segments, each optimized for distinct performance requirements high-reliability for remote surgery, ultra-low-latency for autonomous drones, or high-throughput for streaming at event venues.
ABI Research (November 2025) projects the global 5G network slicing market to surge from $6.1 billion in 2025 to $67.52 billion by 2030 a 70% compound annual growth rate driven by enterprise verticals and consumer applications, with B2B use cases representing 64% of total market value by decade’s end. Citymesh’s Core SaaS deployment provides direct access to that commercial opportunity from day one, without requiring a separate hardware investment cycle.
What is 5G network slicing and what is its market value?
Network slicing creates isolated virtual network segments on one physical infrastructure, each with distinct performance tiers. ABI Research projects the global 5G network slicing market to reach $67.52 billion by 2030, growing at a 70% CAGR from $6.1 billion in 2025, with B2B enterprise use cases representing 64% of total market value.
Limitations and Considerations
The SaaS model introduces a structural dependency on Nokia and AWS that self-hosted operators don’t carry. Any service disruption at the infrastructure layer AWS availability zones or Nokia’s operational systems directly affects Citymesh’s enterprise customers. Data sovereignty regulations in certain jurisdictions, including some EU member states and markets like India, may restrict core network functions from running on third-party public cloud infrastructure, limiting deployment scope without local-region compliance architectures. Operators evaluating this model must assess vendor lock-in risk, SLA commitments, and regional data residency requirements before migration decisions.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is Citymesh and why is its 5G Core SaaS deployment significant?
Citymesh is Belgium’s fourth mobile network operator, founded in 2006 under Cegeka. Its 5G Core SaaS deployment live February 19, 2026 is the world’s first commercial mobile service running on a full SaaS-based core network. It establishes that cloud-native telecom delivery is production-ready for commercial operators globally, not just in controlled lab environments.
How does Nokia Core SaaS for Business work?
Nokia Core SaaS for Business delivers a pre-integrated 4G/5G core as a subscription service hosted on cloud infrastructure. Nokia commissions, operates, and maintains all functions including automatic upgrades and capacity management. Operators access services through a catalog and expose capabilities via standardized APIs without managing any physical hardware.
Why is AWS used to host a telecom core network?
AWS provides multi-region infrastructure with telecommunications-grade availability, elastic scaling for traffic spikes, and security controls meeting telecom compliance requirements. It allows operators to absorb unpredictable demand at events, airports, and emergency deployments without pre-provisioning idle hardware that generates cost between peak periods.
What industries does Citymesh serve with its 5G SaaS platform?
Citymesh serves venues and events, airports, hospitals, offshore settlements, first responder agencies, drone operators, and transportation enterprises at launch. The platform also powers a new mobile offering for self-employed professionals and SMEs in Belgium segments underserved by legacy operators Proximus, Telenet, and Orange Belgium.
What is network slicing and why does it matter for enterprise operators?
Network slicing creates isolated virtual network segments on one physical infrastructure, each optimized for different performance tiers. Operators charge enterprises differentiated rates for guaranteed high-reliability or low-latency slices. ABI Research projects the global 5G network slicing market to reach $67.52 billion by 2030, growing at a 70% CAGR from $6.1 billion in 2025.
Is Nokia Core SaaS for Business available to operators outside Europe?
Yes. Nokia’s Core SaaS for Business is available to telecom providers worldwide, confirmed in the February 2026 launch announcement. Nokia held private demonstrations at MWC Barcelona, March 2–5, 2026, Hall 3, Stand 3B20, for operators evaluating deployment.
How does 5G Core SaaS change entry barriers for new mobile operators?
Traditional core deployments require substantial CapEx in hardware, custom integration, and long-term maintenance contracts before a single subscriber connects. 5G Core SaaS converts that into a subscription with pay-as-you-grow pricing, enabling operators to launch commercially faster and scale costs in direct proportion to actual revenue.
What is the 5G core market size and growth forecast?
According to Coherent Market Insights (2025), the global 5G core market is forecast to grow from $4.57 billion in 2025 to $39.12 billion by 2032. This reflects accelerating operator adoption of cloud-native, software-based core network architectures across global markets. Note that figures vary by analyst scope and methodology.
