Nokia and SoftBank Launch AI-RAN Field Trial in Japan

Nokia and SoftBank Corp. have agreed to conduct a commercial AI-RAN field trial in Japan by 2027. The project integrates Nokia's AI-native anyRAN Cloud RAN software into SoftBank's AITRAS platform and Orchestrator, utilizing NVIDIA's Aerial RAN Computer (ARC) platform. The hardware configuration includes NVIDIA Grace CPUs, RTX PRO 4500 GPUs, and ConnectX-8 networking to support high-bandwidth, low-latency commercial workloads on cloud-native infrastructure.

By running radio and AI workloads on a common, programmable infrastructure, the partners aim to validate AI-RAN technology under real-world commercial traffic conditions. This shift from laboratory development to deployment seeks to improve spectral efficiency and support emerging edge applications, including robotics, autonomous systems, and physical AI. The collaboration establishes a foundation for the eventual evolution toward AI-native 6G networks.

Parallel to the SoftBank trial, Nokia and NVIDIA are advancing a sovereign agentic AI platform using NVIDIA AI Enterprise and Nemotron models. Initial laboratory tests with Deutsche Telekom showed uplink throughput improvements of 10-15%. Other European operators are currently testing the technology, with Elisa running analytics in Finland and BT preparing for a live trial in Birmingham in 2027. The broader ecosystem includes hardware partners such as Dell, Quanta, and Supermicro, while operators like etisalat UAE, MEO, and Airtel explore agentic AI use cases.