This Week's Top Five Stories in the Telco Industry
Nokia has launched what it describes as the telecom industry’s first commercial AI-native RAN platform.
Developed in collaboration with chipmaker NVIDIA, this software-defined platform is designed to transition mobile networks from traditional hardware setups to AI-centric architectures, while boosting uplink and downlink capacity through enhancing spectral efficiency.
The technology incorporates Nokia’s anyRAN software alongside NVIDIA’s Aerial AI-RAN platform. Nokia states that pilots for its new AI-RAN solution are scheduled to begin at the end of this year, with full commercial availability planned for 2027.
A study commissioned by VodafoneThree ranks the UK in eighth place out of the 10 countries analysed for the factors that enable a mobile operator to operate and invest, putting it behind nations such as Singapore, South Korea, Germany, Australia and the US, but ahead of France and Spain.
Breaking this down further, it states that UK operators face the second-highest energy costs and planning red tape. In addition, the UK is ranked seven out of 10 for the pipeline of relevant skills.
Viasat states that it has carried out the first automotive satellite voice call integrated directly into a BMW Group vehicle.
The technology trial was conducted during the recent 5G Automotive Association (5GAA) Meeting Week in Munich, Germany. The voice call was initiated and managed through the BMW iX3’s infotainment system.
The technological architecture behind this trial builds on a previous demonstration that used electronic SIM card (eSIM) software from Cubic³, a developer of software-defined vehicle (SDV) systems.
Mobile operators have reduced their operational carbon emissions by 13% between 2019 and 2024, according to the latest research from the GSMA.
This environmental progress has been achieved despite a 10% increase in mobile connections and data traffic more than quadrupling over the same five-year period.
More impressively, operational emissions fell by 5% in 2024 alone – double the average annual rate of reduction achieved over the previous four years.
South African telecoms operator rain has partnered with Huawei to roll out a commercial sub-1 GHz Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) 5G network.
rain has already achieved a large-scale footprint with this technology across major South African cities and will expand it to encompass thousands of sites across the nation.
Executives
Andrea DonĂ
Chief Network Officer & Network Director
Conrad Leigh
CEO
Fang Xiang
Ian Fogg
Research Director - Network Innovation
Jensen Huang
Founder and CEO
John Giusti
Chief Regulatory Officer
Justin Hotard
President and CEO
RĂŠmy Pascal
Practice Leader, Mobile infrastructure
Sandeep Moorthy
SVP/GM, Advanced NTN Solutions
