InCoax Networks will take over sales of its products directly and approach customers it could previously only reach through contractual restrictions tied to its Nokia cooperation, the Swedish company announced on October 5, 2026.

The shift to a direct sales model follows a meeting with Nokia at which the parties agreed on the intended direction: InCoax assumes responsibility for sales, and the contractual restrictions that prevented it from approaching customers directly will be removed. The final terms of the revised cooperation model remain to be determined.

The restructuring comes with a second, equally significant number attached. InCoax said it is working on new financing that it expects will be required before the end of 2026 — a signal that the listed vendor is burning cash faster than the Nokia channel was replacing it. A separate announcement the same day underlined the funding pressure: none of the series TO2 warrants were exercised, because the share traded significantly below the SEK 0.60 subscription price during the final days of the exercise period. For warrant holders, exercising would have meant paying more than the market value of the shares received.

Why did the Nokia model fall short?

InCoax does not believe the sales outcome of the Nokia cooperation provides a complete picture of the market potential, the company said in its statement. Rather than attempt to replicate Nokia's global reach, InCoax will concentrate its resources on selected customers and projects.

The company argues the direct route has two commercial advantages:

• Direct customer contact and InCoax's own specialist expertise are expected to shorten the path to business.
• Direct sales may provide a greater financial contribution per transaction.

The move separates commercial reality from the channel's apparent performance: sales through Nokia, in InCoax's own assessment, understated what the market could deliver. That framing matters for a company whose platform has been through a substantial technical upgrade during the partnership — development work the vendor says has strengthened its operator-grade platform to carrier-grade level and broadened the customer offering with additional applications, greater flexibility and improved cost efficiency.

What happens to development spending?

The transition also redraws the company's cost base. InCoax said the plan includes a substantial reduction in development costs compared with the extensive development and integration work undertaken within the Nokia cooperation.

That is a direct consequence of the change in scope. Work inside a large vendor partnership typically demands deep integration engineering; a direct-sales specialist model, focused on selected customers and projects, does not. InCoax frames the result as a clearer focus on sales and customer needs, with existing customers and identified business opportunities providing the foundation for continued commercialization.

What are the risks?

Three open items temper the story. First, the final terms of the revised cooperation with Nokia have not been settled — the agreement described is an intended direction, not a signed contract. Second, the company itself expects to need new financing before the end of 2026, and the failed TO2 warrant exercise closed off one obvious funding route, with the share trading well under the SEK 0.60 subscription price. Third, InCoax must now prove it can convert restricted customers and identified opportunities into revenue on its own specialist footprint, rather than through a global channel partner.

For a vendor of InCoax's size, that conversion is the commercial test. The company's claim that direct sales will shorten the path to business and improve margins per transaction is, for now, a projection grounded in its own assessment of the market — not yet in reported results.

The next milestones are concrete: finalized cooperation terms with Nokia, execution against the selected customer list, and the closure of the new financing round the company says it needs before the end of 2026.