Nokia (NYSE:NOK) has expanded its engagement with telecommunications operators in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East as its artificial intelligence radio access network (AI-RAN) platform moves from initial evaluations into laboratory testing and live network trials.
The company identified A1 Group, Chunghwa Telecom, du, e&, Mobily, stc, TPG Telecom and Zain Saudi among the operators participating in the expanded programme.
Trials involving previously announced partners, including NTT DOCOMO, are also progressing, according to Nokia.
Nokia Reports Spectral Efficiency Improvements Above 20%
Nokia said its AI-RAN platform has demonstrated improvements of more than 20% in spectral efficiency, a measure of how effectively wireless networks use available radio spectrum.
The company expects further improvements through a software development roadmap extending into 2027 and 2028.
The platform combines Nokia’s anyRAN software with NVIDIA’s Aerial RAN Computer, integrating AI processing capabilities into radio access network infrastructure.
Nokia did not provide detailed results for each participating operator or specify when the trials might lead to commercial deployments.
Operator Engagement Extends Beyond Initial Evaluations
The expanded programme follows earlier evaluations involving T-Mobile, SoftBank and Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison.
Nokia also highlighted an expanded collaboration with NVIDIA covering AI-RAN platform development and associated software tools.
Remy Pascal, Practice Leader for Mobile Infrastructure at Omdia, commented on the significance of the broader operator participation.
“The breadth of operator engagement announced by Nokia shows that AI-RAN is evolving from a research topic into a strategic priority for a growing number of service providers,” Pascal said.
Emma Falck, President of Mobile Infrastructure at Nokia, said the company’s expanding partnerships reflected wider industry interest in the technology.
“The growing ecosystem of partners across regions demonstrates that AI-RAN is becoming a shared industry priority, enabling more intelligent, efficient and software-driven networks,” Falck said.
Ronnie Vasishta, Senior Vice President of Telecom at NVIDIA, outlined the company’s expectations for the technology.
“AI-RAN will transform the mobile network into one of the world’s largest distributed AI infrastructures,” Vasishta said.
The expanded trials represent a further stage in Nokia’s AI-RAN development programme. Commercial deployment schedules and the financial contribution of the technology were not disclosed in the announcement.