T-Mobile makes first AI-RAN call with Nokia and Nvidia

T-Mobile reached AI-RAN milestones with both of its radio access network vendors, Ericsson and Nokia, in the same week. The carrier is adding intelligence to its wireless networks in more than one way.

Nokia said that, working with Nvidia, T-Mobile completed the "world's first" AI-RAN voice call on a live commercial network. Nokia's Chief Technology Officer, Pallavi Mahajan, wrote in a blog post that the test marks a moment in Nokia's ambition to move its technology out of the lab and into the network. It comes one year after the Finnish vendor partnered with Nvidia. She described it as the first software-defined RAN call using accelerated computing, and called it "a moment from which there is no looking back."

The other milestone involves Ericsson. The report points to performance gains from Ericsson's AI beamforming, but the text provided gives no figures or further detail on what was measured.

The two sets of trials make T-Mobile something of a microcosm for the different RAN platform strategies Nokia and Ericsson are pursuing. The carrier is testing both approaches inside one network, so its results offer a side-by-side view of how each vendor wants to bring AI into the radio access network. The report also notes that T-Mobile is eager to test Nokia's AI RAN this year.

For the Nordics, the story matters because Nokia is a Finnish company, and its tie-up with Nvidia is now producing a live-network result with a major US operator.