NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) announced at its GTC Berlin event that T-Mobile US (NASDAQ:TMUS) had completed what the companies described as the world’s first AI Radio Access Network (AI-RAN) call on a commercial mobile network.
The demonstration took place in Bellevue, Washington, in collaboration with NVIDIA and Nokia (NYSE:NOK).
The call used commercial NVIDIA Aerial RAN Computer (ARC) servers, Nokia’s CUDA-accelerated radio access network software and massive MIMO radio equipment.
The system was connected to an existing standalone 5G core network and used a commercially available smartphone.
The demonstration represented a step in the development of AI-enabled mobile network infrastructure, combining radio access functions with accelerated computing technology.
AI-RAN refers to the integration of artificial intelligence capabilities into radio access network infrastructure, which connects mobile devices to telecommunications networks.
The technology uses accelerated computing hardware to support network processing and AI workloads on shared infrastructure.
NVIDIA’s ARC platform is designed to provide computing resources for both radio access network functions and AI applications.
The approach could allow telecommunications operators to use the same infrastructure for mobile connectivity and additional computing tasks, including network monitoring and optimisation.
The T-Mobile demonstration showed that the technology could support a mobile call using an existing 5G standalone core and commercial equipment.
BT, Deutsche Telekom and Elisa have announced AI-RAN initiatives using Nokia’s anyRAN software on NVIDIA ARC hardware.
BT plans to conduct live network trials in Birmingham, England, during 2027.
Deutsche Telekom has already validated the commercial AI-RAN platform in laboratory environments in Bonn, Germany, and Oulu, Finland. The operator is also preparing field trials for 2027.
Meanwhile, Finnish telecommunications company Elisa completed what Nokia and NVIDIA described as Europe’s first AI-RAN field trial.
During the trial, Elisa simultaneously operated voice communications, mobile data services and video analytics using 5G spectrum on a single ARC platform.
The demonstration examined the ability of shared infrastructure to support conventional telecommunications services alongside AI-related processing.
According to NVIDIA, nine telecommunications operators across Europe, the Middle East and Africa are developing or expanding infrastructure based on its technology.
New deployments have been announced by CRA in the Czech Republic, etisalat in the United Arab Emirates, Silknet in Georgia and TIM in Italy.
Existing infrastructure programmes are also being expanded by Cassava in Africa, Deutsche Telekom in Germany, Fastweb + Vodafone in Italy, Kazakhtelecom in Central Asia and Orion Telecom in Serbia.
The projects involve the deployment or expansion of NVIDIA-based computing infrastructure for telecommunications applications.
The announcements indicate that operators in several regions are evaluating accelerated computing technologies as part of their network development plans.
NVIDIA unveiled two additional configurations of its Aerial RAN Computer platform, designated MGX 2U and MGX 4U.
Both configurations use NVIDIA RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell Server Edition graphics processing units and support options based on x86 processors or NVIDIA Vera CPUs.
The hardware is intended to provide computing capacity for AI-enabled radio access networks and related applications.
Dell Technologies, Quanta Cloud Technology and Supermicro are expected to offer servers designed to support the ARC platform.
The availability of multiple server suppliers could provide telecommunications operators with additional hardware options when deploying AI-RAN infrastructure.
NVIDIA also announced developments involving its Nemotron family of open AI models, which are being integrated into telecommunications network management software.
Nokia is incorporating Nemotron into its Autonomous Networks Suite, while Cisco is integrating fine-tuned versions of the models into its Crosswork AI platform.
The integrations are intended to support network automation, including the analysis of operating conditions and the management of network processes.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), BT and NTT DATA are also adopting Nemotron models to develop AI agents for telecommunications operations.
According to NVIDIA, the planned applications include network management, site inspections and fault remediation.
These systems are designed to assist operators with identifying network issues, analysing operational information and supporting maintenance activities.
The announcements extend NVIDIA’s involvement in telecommunications infrastructure beyond conventional computing hardware into radio access networks and network automation software.
The T-Mobile demonstration provides an example of AI-RAN technology operating on a commercial mobile network, while the European trials will examine its performance in additional operating environments.
The new ARC hardware configurations and Nemotron integrations also expand the range of technologies available to telecommunications operators considering AI-enabled network infrastructure.
However, several announced projects remain at the laboratory validation or trial stage, and the companies have not disclosed comprehensive financial terms or revenue expectations for the initiatives.
Further deployments and testing will provide additional information about the operational performance and commercial applications of AI-RAN technology.
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