The companies are all founding members of the AI-RAN Alliance.

T-Mobile cited the need for AI-RAN as it improves customers’ real-world network experiences.

“AI will not only power RAN performance and automate operations but will supercharge mobile network infrastructure to simultaneously run third-party AI application workloads at the network edge,” T-Mobile said in a statement.

AI-RAN concepts will be built in an open and containerised manner like Open RAN, with virtualised RAN and Core components managed from a central cloud.

An AI-RAN cloud-based multipurpose network will both support traditional telecommunications workloads and AI workloads (internal and external AI as a Service or AIaaS, a cloud-based paradigm that provides access to AI capabilities in T-Mobile’s network without the need for dedicated, in-house infrastructure).

The same platform will carry voice, video, data, and also new generative AI applications, and have the ability to make contextual AI-powered decisions around network performance and traffic routing for different applications and circumstances.

The new AI-RAN Innovation Centre will help carry out the mission of the AI-RAN Alliance, which was announced in February 2024 at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

“AI-RAN at T-Mobile will be all about unlocking the massive capacity and performance that customers increasingly demand from mobile networks,” claimed T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert (pictured).

“The companies will work together at our new Bellevue AI-RAN Innovation Centre, and the partnership will not only propel the mobile network industry forward, but also has the potential to eventually advance many others as well.”

“AI will reinvent the wireless communication network and industry — going beyond voice, data, and video to support a wide range of new applications like generative AI and robotics,” said Nvidia CEO and founder Jensen Huang.

Huang said Nvidia will leverage its AI Aerial platform, which unifies communications, computing, and AI.

“Working closely with the industry’s leaders, we will extend AI traffic to wireless networks and use AI to reinvent wireless communications.”

“As a founding member of the AI-RAN Alliance, we are not only committed to positioning the United States as a leader in the commercialisation of AI-RAN solutions but also to exploring and harnessing future opportunities in multi-purpose cellular and AI-optimised networks,” said Ericsson president and CEO Börje Ekholm.

“We look forward to collaborating on new AI-RAN innovations to transform network security, performance, and efficiency with the aim of yielding savings in network operations and increasing monetization opportunities for operators,” said Nokia president and CEO Pekka Lundmark.