Nokia, T-Mobile and NVIDIA Complete First AI-RAN Call on Live Commercial Network
The companies plan to expand field trials to additional spectrum bands, test new AI algorithms designed to improve radio network performance.
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In a step towards integrating AI computing with live mobile networks, Nokia, T-Mobile and NVIDIA have completed what they describe as the world’s first AI-RAN call at a commercial cell site.
At a site in Bellevue, Washington, the call was made over T-Mobile’s live 5G production network, using Nokia’s Massive MIMO radio, its 5G anyRAN software, and server infrastructure built on NVIDIA’s Aerial RAN Computer platform. The setup was connected to a commercial 5G core and commercial user devices.
Pallavi Mahajan, Nokia’s chief technology and AI officer, announced the development and said, “In practical terms, this means AI-RAN is moving out of controlled lab environments and into the place where it must prove itself: a live operator network, with real spectrum and commercial network infrastructure.”
AI-RAN aims to integrate AI computing capabilities with radio access network functions. The approach could allow telecom operators to improve network performance while using shared computing infrastructure to run AI applications alongside connectivity services.
Nokia has outlined a goal of achieving up to twice the spectral efficiency through its AI-native RAN approach. Spectral efficiency measures how effectively a network uses available radio spectrum to carry data. However, the latest call does not, by itself, establish that such improvements have been achieved in commercial operations.
The companies plan to expand field trials to additional spectrum bands, test new AI algorithms designed to improve radio network performance and assess whether AI inference workloads can run alongside RAN functions on the same accelerated computing platform.
“12 months ago, at GTC Washington, we announced our strategic partnership with NVIDIA and set out a shared ambition to accelerate the transition to AI-native networks. Today, that ambition is becoming reality,” Mahajan said.
The work builds on earlier collaboration between the three companies. T-Mobile launched an AI-RAN Innovation Center in Bellevue in September 2024 to explore the intersection of AI and radio networks.
Nokia and NVIDIA announced their partnership in 2025, with T-Mobile working with both companies to integrate AI-RAN technologies into its 6G development efforts.
Subsequent laboratory tests evaluated Nokia’s anyRAN software on NVIDIA’s GPU-accelerated platform.
