NVIDIA and Nokia Transform Telecom Networks Into Distributed Intelligence Platforms With AI-RAN

NVIDIA and Nokia Deploy AI-RAN Across Global Telecom Networks

NVIDIA announced at GTC Berlin that leading global telecom operators are transforming their telecom networks into distributed intelligence platforms by integrating NVIDIA accelerated computing across centralized data centers, metro sites, and cell sites1

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. This partnership between NVIDIA and Nokia marks a fundamental shift in how AI-driven telecom networks operate, bringing intelligence closer to people, businesses, and machines that use them.

T-Mobile completed the world's first AI-RAN call on a live network in Bellevue, Washington, using commercial NVIDIA Aerial RAN Computer (ARC) servers, Nokia's NVIDIA CUDA-accelerated RAN software, and massive multiple-input multiple-output radios connected to an existing 5G Standalone core4

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. Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA, stated that telecom networks were built to carry the world's conversations but will now also carry the world's intelligence1

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Europe's First AI-RAN Field Trials Demonstrate Real-World Applications

Elisa completed Europe's first field trial of AI-RAN, simultaneously running voice, mobile data, and vision AI together on a single accelerated computing platform over 5G in Helsinki4

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. The trial clears the way for distributed deployment and commercial AI-RAN services in 2027. BT is preparing live AI-RAN trials in Birmingham, England, with Nokia and NVIDIA scheduled for 20274

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Deutsche Telekom validated Nokia and NVIDIA's commercial AI-RAN platform in Bonn and Oulu labs, including AI-enhanced uplink channel estimation to improve uplink throughput. Initial laboratory trials showed a 10% to 15% improvement in uplink speeds through optimized radio signal processing3

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. Orange is testing Nokia 5G software on NVIDIA ARC, focusing on AI-RAN spectral efficiency improvements and support for edge AI services in live networks4

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Nine EMEA Operators Expand NVIDIA-Powered Infrastructure

Nine operators across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) are building or expanding NVIDIA-powered infrastructure1

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. New infrastructure deployments include CRA in the Czech Republic, etisalat in the United Arab Emirates, Silknet in Georgia, and TIM in Italy. Expansions are underway at Cassava in Africa, Deutsche Telekom in Germany, Fastweb plus Vodafone in Italy, Kazakhtelecom in Central Asia, and Orion Telecom in Serbia1

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Deutsche Telekom plans to expand its NVIDIA-powered Industrial AI Cloud, which hosts open models including NVIDIA Nemotron and Soofi, and serves robotics companies such as Agile Robots2

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. At distributed sites, Deutsche Telekom is piloting AI-RAN trials and demonstrating NVIDIA ARC to run inference between the device and the network edge.

Nokia anyRAN Software Enables AI-Native 5G Architecture

Nokia is bringing its anyRAN software on NVIDIA Aerial RAN Computer for trials at BT, Deutsche Telekom, Elisa, and Orange1

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. The Nokia anyRAN software, designed natively for AI and running on the NVIDIA Aerial RAN Computer, provides a software-defined infrastructure for integrating AI-driven radio functions to improve network capacity and performance5

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Nokia and NVIDIA are applying AI to different stages of 5G signal processing, including radio channel estimation, beamforming, multi-user MIMO user pairing, and transmission scheduling5

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. This AI in telecom networks approach extends accelerated computing into the radio access network, turning it into an intelligence workload that runs on the same platform as advanced services. Globally, nearly 20 telecom operators have publicly announced AI-RAN collaborations using Nokia anyRAN software and NVIDIA ARC2

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Agentic AI and NVIDIA Nemotron Drive Autonomous Network Operations

Nokia and Cisco are incorporating NVIDIA Nemotron open models into the software operators use to run autonomous networks1

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. NVIDIA AI Enterprise software, along with NVIDIA Nemotron models and libraries, is being integrated into Nokia's agentic platform, enabling operators to design, evaluate, deploy, and operate AI agents specialized in telecommunications5

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Orange is hosting open models, including NVIDIA Nemotron, as a managed service on top of its Live Intelligence trusted AI platform, enabling new advanced services for enterprises2

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. At distributed sites, Orange is deploying NVIDIA ARC for voice intelligence applications using Nemotron Speech, demonstrating new services to help emergency and field services teams translate across multiple languages in real time with low latency and reliability1

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. Elisa has deployed NVIDIA ARC at a distributed network location, running a voice intelligence application that serves as an enterprise assistant2

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AI-RAN Technology Positions Networks for 6G Evolution

The AI-RAN technology provides operators with a concrete solution to improve their existing 5G and 5G Advanced networks while preparing their evolution toward AI-native 6G and sovereign networks5

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. Intelligence is built in five layers: land, power and shell, chips, infrastructure, models, and applications. Telecom operators already own sovereign infrastructure at the first layer, with data centers, regional sites, and cell sites that have power, fiber, and spectrum1

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By adding NVIDIA accelerated computing, open models, and applications on top, operators are building the full intelligence stack into their networks. At distributed sites, a common converged platform based on the AI-RAN architecture can serve open models, power robotics, voice and agentic AI applications, and run intelligent 5G software1

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. However, installing additional computing capacity requires significant investment in an industry where operators are closely monitoring spending, though Nokia argues that AI-RAN could improve the profitability of existing infrastructure3

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