Nokia and SoftBank agree to conduct commercial AI-RAN field trial in Japan
Press Release
Companies will conduct an AI-RAN field trial in Japan in 2027 in a commercial network environment under commercial traffic conditions
Planned deployment will validate key AI-RAN capabilities using Nokia anyRAN software with the SoftBank AITRAS platform including the Orchestrator
Collaboration supports SoftBank’s ‘Beyond Carrier’ strategy and advances Nokia’s AI-RAN commercialization roadmap
Nokia today announced an agreement with SoftBank Corp. to conduct a commercial AI-RAN field trial in Japan in 2027. The planned deployment will use Nokia’s anyRAN software on a SoftBank AITRAS platform with NVIDIA ARC-Pro-based accelerated computing, in conjunction with the SoftBank AITRAS Orchestrator. The companies plan to validate AI-RAN technology in a commercial network environment under commercial traffic conditions.
The upcoming field trial will assess key AI-RAN capabilities in a live commercial network environment and represents an important step in SoftBank’s efforts to commercialize AI-RAN as part of its Beyond Carrier strategy. It will also advance Nokia’s AI-RAN commercialization roadmap by moving the technology from laboratory development toward real-world deployment.
The planned trial will combine Nokia’s AI-native anyRAN Cloud RAN software on a SoftBank AITRAS platform with NVIDIA’s ARC-Pro reference design and the SoftBank AITRAS Orchestrator. The accelerated computing platform incorporates an NVIDIA Grace CPU, NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 GPU and NVIDIA ConnectX-8 networking, providing the computing and high-bandwidth, low-latency connectivity needed to run commercial RAN workloads on cloud-native infrastructure. The AITRAS Orchestrator will support the orchestration of AI and RAN workloads within the trial environment, while NVIDIA’s programmable accelerated computing platform and CUDA ecosystem provide a software-defined foundation for continued AI-RAN innovation and an evolution path toward AI-native 6G. The trial will also demonstrate how Nokia's AI-native anyRAN software can operate within the SoftBank AITRAS platform architecture, highlighting deployment flexibility beyond traditional RAN implementations.
Our agreement with SoftBank marks an important step toward the future of AI-native networks. By bringing AI and RAN workloads onto common, programmable infrastructure, AI-RAN has the potential to unlock new levels of spectral efficiency while providing the distributed intelligence needed to support physical AI. As the boundaries between network and compute continue to blur, this distributed infrastructure can become a powerful platform for both connectivity and AI. Together with SoftBank and its AITRAS platform, we are laying the foundation for networks that go beyond connectivity to enable real-time AI services and accelerate the evolution toward AI-native 6G.
Our planned field trial with Nokia will mark a significant milestone in AI-RAN’s transition from concept to execution. We will integrate Nokia’s AI-native anyRAN into our AITRAS platform as its RAN component, with the AITRAS Orchestrator working in coordination with Nokia’s RAN and MantaRay. We are excited to begin this next phase of validation with Nokia, paving the way for a new era of networks that deliver both connectivity and AI services.
As demand for generative, agentic and physical AI applications continues to grow, operators require networks that can efficiently support increasing data volumes while enabling new AI-driven services closer to the end user. By combining Nokia’s AI-native RAN software with NVIDIA accelerated computing, AI-RAN brings radio and AI workloads onto a common platform, helping operators improve infrastructure utilization, accelerate innovation and unlock new revenue opportunities.
The agreement builds on Nokia and SoftBank’s ongoing collaboration in AI-RAN, supported by NVIDIA’s accelerated computing node. The planned field trial will bring together Nokia’s AI-native RAN software with the SoftBank AITRAS platform including the Orchestrator to test AI-RAN under commercial traffic conditions. The collaboration will explore how AI and RAN workloads can be orchestrated on a common platform while preserving carrier-grade RAN operational requirements. Integration between Nokia MantaRay and the AITRAS Orchestrator will help enable coordinated management of AI and RAN resources, creating a foundation for future AI-native network architectures.
The trial will contribute to the broader industry transition toward AI-native network architectures and explore how operators can introduce new capabilities faster while supporting emerging AI applications at the network edge.
The planned trial will also explore AI-RAN’s potential to support richer AI-driven experiences, lower-latency services and new applications powered by real-time intelligence. Future use cases could include physical AI, immersive digital experiences, robotics and autonomous systems that require close interaction between AI and connectivity.
Nokia is a global leader in connectivity infrastructure, enabling the AI supercycle. We build networks that connect intelligence and deliver a comprehensive connectivity solution across fixed, mobile, IP, optical, core, and data center networks. With security by design, AI-driven innovation, and AI-optimized architecture, Nokia delivers trusted infrastructure that enables AI to scale and advances connectivity to secure a brighter world.