Nokia and Orange Join Forces with NVIDIA to Advance AI-RAN Innovation

Nokia and Orange announced a new partnership to jointly develop and evaluate artificial intelligence wireless access network (AI-RAN) technology based on Nokia anyRAN 5G software and NVIDIA AI infrastructure. The collaboration aims to explore how emerging AI-RAN capabilities can enhance network performance, energy efficiency, and bring new services to Orange customers.

Through a structured collaborative innovation framework, Nokia and Orange will jointly identify, design, and evaluate new AI-RAN capabilities. This collaboration will explore how GPU based wireless processors can enhance wireless performance through more advanced receivers, as well as how AI can be deeply integrated into RAN to further optimize performance, support perception and other new services, and bring higher levels of automation and intelligence to cloud native and dedicated RAN environments.

Laurent Leboucher, Chief Technology Officer of Orange Group, stated that Orange is committed to building more efficient, adaptable, and sustainable networks. By collaborating with Nokia and NVIDIA in the AI-RAN field, we can better understand how the AI native architecture empowered by AI-RAN can improve the efficiency of key wireless algorithms such as scheduling, beamforming, and power optimization, thereby enhancing spectrum efficiency and energy performance, while achieving advanced capabilities such as predictive optimization and wireless sensing. This collaboration is an important step in our long-term network strategy.”

As mobile networks evolve towards 6G, Nokia and Orange will jointly develop methods to maximize the spectral efficiency of existing and future frequency bands, including those above 6 GHz. The 6G ready platform will enable smooth software defined migration to 6G and support smarter utilization of computing resources within Orange’s operational scope.

Through collaborations with Nokia and NVIDIA, Orange aims to gain a deeper understanding of how to seamlessly integrate AI enabled RAN functionality into operational networks, while ensuring sustainable and efficient resource utilization in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Pallavi Mahajan, Chief Technology and Artificial Intelligence Officer of Nokia, stated, “Artificial intelligence is reshaping the way networks are designed. This introduces higher levels of intelligence and flexibility to the wireless layer. Through this collaboration with Orange, we are exploring how Nokia’s AI-RAN solution integrates advanced AI and RAN functionality into a unified architecture. This will provide key support for the industry’s transformation towards cognitive and AI native networks.”