Nokia, T-Mobile and NVIDIA have completed what they describe as the world’s first AI-RAN call at a commercial cell site in Bellevue, Washington, advancing efforts to integrate artificial intelligence into radio access networks.
The call was conducted over T-Mobile’s live production network using Nokia’s Massive MIMO radio, 5G anyRAN software and server infrastructure powered by NVIDIA’s Aerial RAN Computer platform. The site was connected to a commercial 5G core and commercial user equipment.
The demonstration moves AI-powered radio access network technology beyond laboratory testing into a live operator environment, allowing its performance to be evaluated using commercial network infrastructure and spectrum.
The companies plan to extend field trials to additional AI-for-RAN algorithms and AI inference workloads running alongside radio access network functions on a shared accelerated computing platform. Further testing will also examine additional spectrum bands and potential applications involving physical AI and distributed AI infrastructure.
Nokia is pursuing a software-defined, AI-native approach to radio access networks, with the aim of improving network performance, supporting AI-enabled services and contributing to the development of 6G. The company has identified a potential twofold improvement in spectral efficiency as a long-term ambition for the technology.
The milestone builds on earlier collaboration between the companies. T-Mobile announced its AI-RAN Innovation Center in Bellevue in September 2024, while Nokia and NVIDIA established a partnership in 2025 to develop commercial-grade AI-RAN products. T-Mobile has also been exploring the technology’s potential role in its 6G development efforts.
AI-RAN could allow telecom operators to combine connectivity and AI computing on shared infrastructure, potentially supporting distributed AI applications, new AI-based services and more efficient use of network resources. The next phase of trials will help assess performance under real-world conditions and the requirements for wider deployment.
