NVIDIA and Telecom industry leaders to develop AI-Native wireless networks for 6G

6G word glowing on a blue background

NVIDIA unveiled partnerships with T-Mobile, MITRE, Cisco, ODC, a portfolio company of Cerberus Capital Management, and Booz Allen Hamilton on the research and development of artificial intelligence (AI)-native wireless network hardware, software and architecture for 6G.

Next-generation wireless networks must be fundamentally integrated with AI to connect hundreds of billions of phones, sensors, cameras, robots and autonomous vehicles. AI-native wireless networks will provide enhanced services for billions of users and set new standards in spectral efficiency — the rate at which data can be transmitted over a given bandwidth. They will also offer performance and resource utilisation while creating new revenue streams for telecommunications companies.

“Next-generation wireless networks will be revolutionary, and we have an unprecedented opportunity to ensure AI is woven in from the start,” said Jensen Huang, the founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “Working with leaders in the field, we’re building an AI-enhanced 6G network that achieves extreme spectral efficiency.”

Open ecosystems drive innovation

Research-driven breakthroughs harnessing the power of AI are necessary to maximise the performance and benefits of AI-native wireless networks. To drive innovation, NVIDIA is collaborating with telco and research leaders to develop an AI-native wireless network stack based on the NVIDIA AI Aerial platform, which provides software-defined radio access networks (RANs) on the NVIDIA accelerated computing platform.

Developers across the globe are building AI-RAN as a precursor to AI-native 6G wireless networks. AI-RAN is a technology that brings AI and RAN workloads together on one platform and embeds AI into radio signal processing.

To deliver enhanced spectral efficiency and lower operational complexity and costs, AI will be fully embedded into the network stack’s software and hosted over a unified accelerated infrastructure, capable of running both network and AI workloads. Also at the solution’s core will be end-to-end security and an open architecture to foster rapid innovation.

T-Mobile and NVIDIA will expand their AI-RAN Innovation Centre collaboration announced last year with the goal of providing additional research-based concepts for AI-native 6G network capabilities, working alongside these new industry collaborators.

“This is an exciting next step to the AI-RAN Innovation Centre efforts we began last September at our Capital Markets Day in partnership with NVIDIA,” said Mike Sievert, the CEO of T-Mobile. “Working with these additional industry leaders on research to natively integrate AI into the network as we begin the journey to 6G will enable the network performance, efficiency and scale to power the next generation of experiences that customers and businesses expect.”

As the founding research partner, MITRE, a not-for-profit research and development organisation, will research, prototype and contribute open, AI-driven services and applications, such as for agentic network orchestration and security, dynamic spectrum sharing and 6G-integrated sensing and communications.

“MITRE is working with NVIDIA to help make AI-native 6G a reality,” said Mark Peters, the president and CEO of MITRE. “By integrating AI into 6G in the beginning, we can solve a wide range of problems, from enhancing service delivery to unlocking required spectrum availability to fuel wireless growth. Through all of our collaborations with NVIDIA, we look forward to creating impact in 6G, AI, simulation, transportation and more.”

Cisco plans to take a lead position in this collaboration as the provider of mobile core and network technologies and will tap into its existing service provider reach and expertise.

“With 6G on the horizon, it’s critical for the industry to work together to build AI-native networks for the future,” said Chuck Robbins, the chair and CEO of Cisco. “Cisco is at the forefront of developing secure infrastructure technology for AI, and we are proud to work with NVIDIA and the broader ecosystem to create an AI-enhanced network that improves performance, reliability and security for our customers.”

ODC, a portfolio company of Cerberus Capital Management, L.P., will deliver cutting-edge layer 2 and layer 3 software for distributed and centralised units of virtual RAN as part of the AI-native radio access stack. Tapping into decades of experience in large-scale mobile systems, ODC is pioneering next-generation AI-native 5G open RAN (ORAN), surpassing existing networks and paving the way for 6G evolution.

“The mobile industry has always taken advantage of advances in other technology fields, and today, no technology is more central than AI,” said Shaygan Kheradpir, the chairman of the advisory board of ODC. “ODC is at the forefront of developing and deploying AI-native ORAN 2.0 networks, enabling service providers to on-ramp seamlessly from 5G to 6G by taking advantage of the vast AI ecosystem to redefine the future of connectivity.”

As a leader in AI and cybersecurity to the federal government, Booz Allen will develop AI RAN algorithms and secure the AI-native 6G wireless platform. Its NextG lab will conduct functional, performance integration and security testing to ensure the resiliency and security of the platform against the most sophisticated adversaries. The company will lead field trials for advanced use cases such as autonomy and robotics.

“The future of wireless communications starts today, and it’s all about AI,” said Horacio Rozanski, the chairman and CEO of Booz Allen. “Booz Allen has the technologies to make AI-native 6G networks a reality and revolutionise secure communications for an entirely new generation of intelligent platforms and applications.”

Expanded aerial research portfolio

These collaborations build on NVIDIA’s AI-RAN and 6G research ecosystem, supported by advancements in the NVIDIA Aerial research portfolio for developing, training, simulating and deploying AI-native wireless innovations.

New additions to the NVIDIA Aerial Research portfolio, also announced today, include the Aerial Omniverse Digital Twin Service, the Aerial Commercial Test Bed on NVIDIA MGX, NVIDIA Sionna 1.0 — building on the open-source Sionna library, which has nearly 150,000 downloads since its launch in 2022 — and the Sionna Research Kit on the NVIDIA Jetson accelerated computing platform. 

The NVIDIA Aerial Research portfolio serves over 2,000 members through the NVIDIA 6G Developer Program. Industry leaders and more than 150 higher-education and research institutions from the U.S. and around the world are harnessing the platform to accelerate 6G and AI-RAN innovation — paving the way for AI-native wireless networks.

Cisco, Nvidia partner to accelerate enterprise AI

Nvidia

Cisco extended its partnership with Nvidia to boost the build out of AI-ready data centre networks to better serve enterprises.

The AI chip maker is adding Cisco’s Silicon One to its Spectrum-X Ethernet networking platform to simplify and standardise Cisco networking and Nvidia technology across data centres.

A representative for Cisco told Mobile World Live the Silicon One G200 processor will be the first chipset used in the partnership.

Cisco will also build systems combining Nvidia’s Spectrum silicon with its operating system software to push AI out to a broader range of enterprise customers.

“This is a good move by both companies and shows the market is moving towards ethernet-based solutions that can be built in systems with partners,” Scott Raynovich, founder and principal analyst at research company Futuriom, told Mobile World Live. “Nvidia is also diversifying its footprint with Cisco in light of Cisco’s recent deal with AMD to build AI networking systems.”

Cisco stated the proposed collaboration will open new market opportunities by unifying the architectural model between front-end and back-end networks, “making it easier to manage various enterprise and cloud provider networks”.

Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins stated while enterprises are under immense pressure to deploy AI quickly and effectively, executives struggle to justify the investment while balancing the risks.

“Together, Cisco and Nvidia are partnering to remove barriers for customers and ensure they can optimise their infrastructure investments to unlock the power of AI,” Robbins stated.

For Nvidia, the partnership expands the reach of its Spectrum-X Ethernet networking platform to Cisco’s global enterprise customers.

Nvidia’s Spectrum-X platform includes adaptive routing, telemetry, congestion control and low latency while Cisco brings its broader networking, security and digital resilience portfolio to the partnership, as well as its Splunk data platform.

Source: Mobile World Live

NVIDIA: AI delivering ROI for telcos, advancing into production

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  • Nearly all telcos are assessing or deploying AI, according to NVIDIA’s State of AI in Telecommunications survey.
  • More than three-quarters of respondents already seeing return on investment through cost savings and/or increased revenue.
  • 37% of operators focusing investment on applying AI or GenAI in network planning and operations, including integration in radio access networks.
  • Findings appear to bode well for nascent AI-RAN developments.

NVIDIA: AI delivering ROI for telcos, advancing into production

Source: NVIDIA

Telcos are seeing increasing cost savings and revenue boosts from investments in artificial intelligence (AI) and showing greater willingness to take the technology deeper into their networks, according to new research from NVIDIA, which TelcoTitans discussed with the vendor’s Global Head of Business Development for Telco, Chris Penrose.

The third annual State of AI in Telecommunications report takes the pulse of telcos’ plans and experiences with the technology and the results look encouraging for its author, AI system and software behemoth NVIDIA — with headline finding being that nearly all (97%) telecom operator respondents are assessing or adopting AI.

The technology is already considered to be delivering results for most, as 83% of operators said AI is helping to increase revenues, up from 72% in last year’s survey. Some (21%) have seen AI contribute revenue uplift of more than 10%, while 38% have tracked increases of less than 5%.

AI is also helping operators to reduce costs, with 77% agreeing that the tech has supported decreases in annual operating costs.

“ More than three quarters of companies indicated that they are seeing a positive impact on return on investment [ROI]… [they] are seeing real dollars begin to happen” –Penrose.

Chris Penrose

Source: NVIDIA

Part of the higher ROI realisation is driven by AI projects progressing from proof of concepts to “full production”. As solutions scale out, “that’s really where the big ROI is going to come”, Penrose said.

Telcos are seeing the biggest impacts from AI in higher employee productivity, enhanced customer experience, and improved network operations, the survey found.

AI buds in the network

Improving customers experience remains the top AI use case and investment area for telcos, according to the survey.

The next highest-ranked use cases were network planning and operations (which includes integrating AI into RAN infrastructure) and optimising field operations.

“ The network side has really evolved, with now 37% saying that they’re applying AI and generative AI in the network space, particularly network operations. This is the core of what they do… [They can] apply [AI] in the network itself to drive better performance that could be everything from energy savings to spectral efficiency” – Penrose.

Along with the opportunity to improve how the network performs, Penrose said telcos can have, “for the first time”, a common set of infrastructure that can support the radio access network (RAN) as well as other AI workloads.

“ We’re seeing a lot of interest around this because telcos spend so much capital on proprietary networks today but they’re massively underutilized. They’re designed for the peak hour, but at midnight, you’ve got a lot of spare capacity. We can redeploy those compute assets to do AI and GenAI. It’s a whole new opportunity to create revenue. ” – Penrose.

NVIDIA is one of the founding members of the AI-RAN Alliance, which launched at February 2024’s Mobile World Congress (MWC), along with Amazon Web Services, Arm, DeepSig, Ericsson, Microsoft, Nokia, Northeastern University, Samsung Electronics, SoftBank, and T-Mobile US (Deutsche Telekomwatch, #133). The organisation has since increased to 50 members, including telcos Boost Mobile Network, Globe Telecom, Korea Telecom, and SK Telecom. Demonstrations of the Alliance’s work are expected to be on show at Arm’s stand at MWC 2025. The group’s aim is to: use AI to improve RAN spectral efficiency; integrate AI and RAN to use infrastructure more efficiently and open revenue opportunities; and deploy AI services at the network edge through the RAN. SoftBank is possibly the most advanced operator in exploring AI-RAN’s potential.

In September 2024, T-Mobile US announced a collaboration with Ericsson, Nokia, and NVIDIA to establish an AI-RAN Innovation Centre to study bringing RAN and AI closer together through NVIDIA’s AI Aerial platform.

Telcos ramp up GenAI plans

This year’s survey included a section dedicated to telcos’ plans for, and adoption of, GenAI, finding that the sector is one of the fastest to implement the technology, according to Penrose.

But the “shocking” result for Penrose was that 84% of respondents said they intend to offer GenAI services to their customers. “That’s a really powerful statistic”, he said.

To enable these services, NVIDIA is seeing interest in Europe and Asia for “sovereign AI”, whereby telcos are supporting governments in establishing national AI infrastructure, said Penrose.

NVIDIA has partnered with 14 telcos on sovereign AI solutions, including Iliad Group subsidiary Scaleway, Swisscom and its Italian subsidiary Fastweb, and Telenor.

The national infrastructure can offer anything from AI training and inferencing as a service to GPU-as-a-service for startups and businesses, he explained.

“ This really does provide a new opportunity to drive revenue now but also use the same infrastructure to drive their own cost savings and support the network for the future. And when all those things come together, it becomes a very exciting place for the telcos to lean into. ”  – Penrose.

Recent examples of telcos bundling GenAI into their consumer services include Telefónica and Deutsche Telekom offering Perplexity’s digital search assistant. Both operators are also investors in the GenAI scaleup via their respective corporate venture arms, along with NVIDIA. Meanwhile, Orange Business launched a suite of GenAI services for enterprises earlier this year under its Live Intelligence product range. French rivals Iliad and Bouygues offer twelve months free access to AI digital assistants from Mistral AI and Perplexity, respectively. In the UK, EE’s 5G standalone network launch in September last year was pitched as part of the operator’s efforts to prepare for an expected influx of AI-powered devices.

Finding AI talent remains top challenge

The survey also found some persistent challenges to telco adoption of AI, with the top three obstacles the same as in the 2024 survey.

The biggest hurdle to scaling AI is lack of talent, such as finding data scientists, engineers, architects, and developers.

More respondents this year (38%) pointed to ’inability to quantify ROI’ as an issue, up from 33% last year, while 30% cited lack of budget for AI as problematic.

Key findings from NVIDIA’s State of AI in Telecommunications survey

  • 84% — AI is helping to increase their company’s annual revenue.
  • 77% — AI helped reduce annual operating costs.
  • 97% — Either actively deploying or assessing AI projects.
  • 60% — Increased employee productivity the biggest benefit from AI.
  • 44% — Investing in AI for customer experience optimisation, which is the top area of investment for AI in telecommunications.
  • 40% — Deploying AI into their network planning and operations, including RAN.
  • 49% — Adopted GenAI solutions.
  • 84% — Using GenAI plan to offer solutions to the customer.

Source: www.telcotitans.com

Author: Michelle Donegan