First AI-RAN call completed

T-Mobile, Nokia and Nvidia say they completed the world's first AI-RAN call through a commercial cell site in Bellevue, Washington, using a real smartphone on a live network.

How the call worked

The call ran over T-Mobile's live production network using a Nokia Massive MIMO radio, Nokia's five G anyRAN software and servers built on Nvidia's Aerial RAN Computer platform.

What is AI-RAN

AI-RAN moves radio processing from custom chips onto accelerated hardware like Nvidia GPUs running Nokia software, allowing the same box to run AI models and rent spare capacity to other jobs.

The efficiency promise

Nokia's chief technology and AI officer Pallavi Mahajan writes that with AI-RAN, the company is on a path to two times spectral efficiency, or more data through the same airwaves.

“With AI-RAN, we are on a path to 2x spectral efficiency.”

Nokia's efficiency claims

Nokia's July twenty twenty-six platform launch claims more than twenty percent efficiency gains so far, fifty percent for twenty twenty-seven and more than one hundred percent for twenty twenty-eight.

Limited proof so far

The call shows Nokia's radio software can run on Nvidia silicon in a live network, but the three companies provided no actual throughput, latency or efficiency figures from the test.

Ericsson's competing results

A day before Nokia's announcement, T-Mobile reported AI-managed beamforming trials with Ericsson in New York City showed sixteen percent improvement in downlink user throughput and twelve percent better spectral efficiency.

T-Mobile backs both vendors

T-Mobile opened its AI-RAN Innovation Center with Nvidia, Ericsson and Nokia in twenty twenty-four. Chief network officer Ankur Kapoor says AI-RAN is a continuum, not a single product.

“AI-RAN is a continuum, not a single product.”

Timeline for commercial deployment

Nokia's AI-RAN products enter pilot deployments around the end of this year, with commercial availability slated for twenty twenty-seven. Six G networks are expected around twenty thirty.

T-Mobile wants proof at scale

T-Mobile CTO John Saw said field trials will help the carrier understand total cost of ownership. When asked about Nokia's efficiency claims, he said the proof is going to be in the pudding.

“the proof is going to be in the pudding.”