Nokia and Orange have announced a strategic collaboration to advance AI-driven Radio Access Network (AI-RAN) technology as part of ongoing preparations for future 6G mobile networks.
The partnership focuses on integrating artificial intelligence into core mobile network functions to improve efficiency, performance, and energy management. The companies will jointly explore how AI can be embedded directly into network architecture to enable more autonomous and adaptive systems.
According to Nokia, the initiative will combine its anyRAN software platform with advanced AI computing capabilities to test how machine learning can optimise radio access operations in real time, including traffic management, signal processing, and network scheduling. Orange will contribute operational network environments across its footprint in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa for testing and validation.
Orange says the collaboration is part of its broader strategy to build more flexible, software-defined, and energy-efficient telecom infrastructure, while preparing its networks for the transition beyond 5G.
Both companies emphasise that AI integration is expected to support key 6G-era features, such as improved spectral efficiency, automated network optimisation, and new services, including integrated sensing and advanced connectivity applications.
The collaboration also reflects a broader telecom industry trend toward AI-native networks, in which intelligence is built into the infrastructure itself rather than added as an external layer.
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