T-Mobile US to invest in AI-RAN Innovation Center with Nvidia, Ericsson, Nokia

T-Mobile US has announced a new collaboration with Nvidia, Ericsson and Nokia, to push the design of mobile networks “with AI at the centre” and further develop the capabilities of radio access networks (RAN). The consortium partners, all founding members of the AI-RAN Alliance, are investing in an AI-RAN Innovation Center based in Bellevue, Washington.

AI-RAN is expected to dramatically improve real-world network experiences and help fulfil the growing demand for increased speeds, reduced latency, and increased reliability needed for the gaming, video, social media and augmented reality applications people have on their mobile and fixed wireless devices. The system leverages billions of data points to devise algorithms that determine the best network adjustments for maximum performance and to predict in real-time where capacity is most needed. T-Mobile said AI will help power RAN performance, automate operations and also enable mobile network infrastructure to simultaneously run third-party AI application workloads at the network edge. These improvements will come along other 5G Advanced features in development by the consortium partners. 

AI-RAN concepts will be built in an open and containerized manner like Open RAN, with virtualized RAN and Core components managed from a central cloud. The partnership also aims to show how AI-RAN can make Open RAN more viable, “while also going beyond.”

T-Mobile further explained that a first-of-its kind AI-RAN cloud-based multipurpose network will be able to not only support traditional telecom workloads, but also AI workloads, through 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. With increased capacity, energy efficiencies and improved resiliency, 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. Customers will benefit from better contextual, predictive and frictionless experiences on their devices. AI-RAN is also expected to help companies save money and grow revenue.