Nokia announced what it describes as the industry's first commercial AI-RAN platform, introducing a software-defined approach designed to improve radio network capacity, efficiency and flexibility while creating a foundation for AI-native mobile networks and future 6G evolution.

As artificial intelligence becomes an increasingly important workload in mobile networks, operators are seeking ways to expand network capacity and deploy new services without relying solely on hardware refresh cycles. Nokia's AI-RAN platform is designed to increase uplink and downlink capacity using existing spectrum and radio infrastructure while enabling continuous performance improvements through software.

Built on Nokia's AI-native network architecture and NVIDIA's accelerated computing platform, the AI-RAN solution combines AI-driven radio optimization with software-defined networking to improve both network performance and operational efficiency.

According to Nokia, the platform has already demonstrated more than 20% spectral efficiency gains through AI-based radio innovations. The company expects to achieve approximately 50% spectral efficiency improvements by 2027 and more than 100% by 2028, enabling operators to support significantly higher traffic volumes in dense network environments while lowering cost per bit.

“Telecommunications is entering the AI era—the radio access network is the next AI infrastructure,” said Jensen Huang, CEO and founder of NVIDIA.

Nokia said pilot deployments of its AI-RAN platform will begin later this year, with commercial availability planned for 2027. The platform will leverage NVIDIA's programmable accelerated computing technologies and will be offered through a software subscription model that provides operators with ongoing access to AI algorithms, performance enhancements and new network capabilities without requiring frequent hardware upgrades.

Three Deployment Options

Nokia's AI-RAN platform is built on a common software-defined architecture using the company's anyRAN software and supports 4G, 5G and future network evolution. The platform complies with Open RAN standards, enabling multi-vendor interoperability and deployment flexibility.

Operators can adopt the platform through three deployment models:

• AirScale capacity plug-in unit: Designed for existing Nokia AirScale deployments, this GPU-powered expansion card integrates NVIDIA accelerated computing into deployed infrastructure, allowing operators to increase network capacity while preserving existing investments. Nokia also supports AI-accelerated merchant silicon from Marvell as part of its broader ecosystem strategy.

• Standalone AI-RAN node: Nokia is introducing a GPU-powered AI-RAN node that supports 4G, 5G and future 6G workloads. The node can operate independently, in clustered deployments or alongside existing AirScale infrastructure as a single logical base station, providing flexibility for operators expanding AI-native capacity.

• Cloud-native AI-RAN: For operators pursuing cloud-native architectures, Nokia will offer GPU-powered commercial off-the-shelf server solutions through ecosystem partners. These platforms support deployment on industry-standard accelerated computing infrastructure while maintaining the performance requirements of modern radio access networks.

Software-Defined Network Evolution

A key element of Nokia's strategy is shifting radio access networks from hardware-centric upgrades to continuous software innovation. Through its subscription-based commercial model, operators will receive ongoing access to AI-powered radio algorithms, spectral efficiency improvements, network optimization capabilities and future AI-native features as they become available.

By combining AI-accelerated computing, software-defined architecture and an open ecosystem approach, Nokia aims to help operators improve network capacity, operational efficiency and long-term infrastructure utilization while providing a practical migration path toward AI-native mobile networks and future 6G deployments.

Source: Nokia

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