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Deployments of the AIR 3255 Massive MIMO antenna-integrated radios began earlier this month. They cover the 4.5GHz band.

Ericsson explained the latest radios are compatible with Docomo’s existing 3.7GHz Massive MIMO equipment, a pairing it stated would boost the flexibility and reliability of the operator’s network.

Masafumi Masuda, SVP and general manager of Docomo’s RAN design department, said the AIR 3255 equipment would help it “maintain and improve network quality” at a time of growing demand.

The Ericsson equipment advances Docomo’s overall Massive MIMO rollout, the executive said.

Docomo might be seeking customer experience improvements, but Ericsson emphasised the equipment would also improve its operational metrics through reductions in power consumption and weight.

It stated the AIR 3255 equipment weighs 13kg, 20 per cent less than its previous generation. Power consumption is cut by 25 per cent and embodied CO2 footprint by 20 per cent.

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Sitting on the shores of Songshan Lake in Dongguan, Huawei’s 300-acre Ox Horn Campus opened in 2018 and is divided into 12 zones modelled after European towns and cities including Budapest, Prague, Oxford and Burgundy. With lifelike European architecture, iconic landmarks and lakeside lawns, the site blends leisure with function. While employees can enjoy an impressive array of facilities including restaurants, libraries, hotels, an art gallery and even an on-campus tram system, the immersive facility unexpectedly houses the company’s most intensive research programmes.

Alan Fan (pictured), head of Huawei’s intellectual property rights department, told MWL: “At our core, we are an innovation company. Our sustained investment in R&D, protected and propelled by a robust IPR framework, is what fuels our progress.”

The tour moved between several of the village clusters, with research teams spread across multiple buildings that combine offices, labs, meeting halls and research units. The Ox Horn campus brings together teams working across computing, AI, optical networks, wireless systems and intelligent driving.

The company’s R&D efforts span foundational mathematical logic, algorithm theory, core signal-processing frameworks and applied domains such as advanced wireless communications, optical networking and systems integration. Within wireless research, Huawei pointed to advanced work in areas such as massive MIMO and AI-assisted radio resource management, all aimed at improving spectrum efficiency and network coverage.

AI and computing form a major pillar of the vendor’s innovation. Huawei continues to invest heavily in its computing platforms, with research covering model training, inference efficiency and distributed computing architectures. These efforts underpin the company’s wider push into AI across networks, cloud infrastructure, devices and automotive platforms.

According to Fan, the company’s intense research focus is what “drives us toward our goal to build a fully connected, intelligent world and deliver greater value for customers and society”.

Innovation in action
During the visit, Huawei pointed to a number of industrial deployments born from its innovation efforts. One example is its work with Tianjin Port in China, where the company’s Smart Port Solution, integrating technology including intelligent twins, autonomous driving, 5G, cloud computing and IoT, created a centralised autonomous system connecting the various port functions. “We created a next-generation ‘intelligent port brain’,” noted Yang Rong, General Manager of Tianjin Port Second Container Terminal Co, adding it optimised loading plans, equipment management and dispatch services. Huawei claims the port houses “the largest driverless fleet seen to date, comprised of 76 vehicles”.

Meanwhile, at the Yimin open-pit mine in Inner Mongolia, a fleet of 100 autonomous electric mining trucks powered by Huawei’s 5G-Advanced network entered large-scale operation earlier this year. Operating under extreme conditions, the vehicles are supported by speeds of 500 Mb/s uplink and low latency to enable continuous, coordinated fleet operation, real-time 8K video transmission and remote truck control.

Separately, Huawei’s Pangu AI models, slated for copying rival AI models earlier this year, now support more than 400 scenarios across over 30 industries. In intelligent driving, vehicles powered by its advanced driving system travelled more than 1.4 billion kilometres with assisted driving activated in 2024.

R&D ambitions
Indeed, Huawei’s latest R&D numbers reflects the scale ambition of its ambitions. In 2024, Huawei invested CNY179.7 billion ($25.5 billion), or 20.8 per cent of total revenue, while cumulative R&D investment over the past decade has now surpassed CNY1.2 trillion. More than 113,000 employees, or 54.1 per cent of the workforce, are engaged in R&D roles.

The company also remains one of the world’s largest patent holders, with more than 150,000 active granted patents globally. At its Innovation and Intellectual Property Forum in Beijing last month, the company revealed it raked in $630 million in patent licensing revenue.

Huawei’s research push continues despite ongoing pressure from US export controls, which have limited its access to advanced manufacturing tools and partners.

Chief legal officer Liuping Song acknowledged the impact during a media roundtable, noting the company’s chip production “has been affected” and that its process technology will “remain behind the industry” for some time.

He stressed the company is prioritising end-to-end capability over any single component, arguing that customers ultimately care about the performance of the entire computing cluster rather than individual chips, adding Huawei’s strengths in connectivity can offset manufacturing constraints.

Looking ahead, Fan said the company expects its patent revenue to rise in 2026, pointing to increased “recognition in the industry of our technologies”, including Wi-Fi, 5G, audio and video.

The post Inside Ox Horn: Huawei’s futuristic China tech hub appeared first on Mobile World Live.

The AI-powered technology verified in the tests automatically applies optimal configurations for each user rather than for the network as a whole based on real-time wireless conditions, the companies stated.

By proactively preventing disruptions, the technology helps users avoid connectivity issues experienced in the past.

Head of KT’s Future Network Laboratory Lee Jong-Sik noted the achievement indicates AI can transform network operations around the user.

Jeong Jin-Guk, head of Samsung’s Advanced Communications Research Centre, said the demonstration is a major milestone which shows how AI can improve user experience on real-world commercial networks.

The AI-RAN technology was applied to users experiencing service disruptions in a field trial with about 18,000 participants, allowing the teams to identify recurring issue patterns and develop user-specific network configurations. The companies then compared the number of disconnections before and after applying the configurations on the commercial network, finding a significant drop in connection failures among users who had faced frequent disruptions.

Samsung is a founding member of the AI-RAN Alliance. KT is also a member.

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The vendor explained in a statement Airtel’s network APIs will be made available on a subscription basis to developers, system integrators and enterprises using Nokia’s Network as Code platform.

The platform gives developers standardised access to network functions without having to navigate underlying network technologies, with more than 60 partners joining its global ecosystem, Nokia added.

Airtel Business CEO Sharat Sinha noted it is partnering with Nokia on network APIs to enable “the ecosystem to leverage our network capabilities” to automate and build secure digital services.

Arvind Khurana, Nokia’s head of Cloud and Network Services for India, stated the partnership “represents a significant step in expanding the Network as Code ecosystem”, which helps operators make money from network investments, while “fostering innovation in the developer community”.

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In a statement, Nokia explained its MantaRay SON is designed to address the increasing complexity of 5G networks, with the integration into Docomo’s operations allowing planning, provisioning and verification processes to be automated. By automating routine operations, the vendor added MantaRay SON improves network quality and efficiency, while significantly reducing operational costs.

The new system also enables closed-loop operations, with configuration changes in 5G systems detected and executed automatically without human intervention, Nokia claimed. The deployment is underway.

Masafumi Masuda, GM of Docomo’s Radio Access Design Department, stated MantaRay’s open interface capabilities will strengthen its O-RAN 5G commercial network, while the advanced AI features will reduce operational costs and further improve service quality.

Nokia head of RAN Mark Atkinson suggested the system represents “a significant leap forward” in managing the complexity of 5G networks. “Together, we are shaping the future of network operations.”

Earlier this month, SoftBank Corp selected Nokia to modernise its existing network infrastructure and expand standalone (SA) 5G coverage across western Japan. In late July, Rakuten Mobile lined up the company as one of three vendor partners to deploy a SA 5G network across the country.

The post Docomo deploys Nokia autonomous network gear appeared first on Mobile World Live.

In a presentation at the vendor’s Capital Markets Day where it revealed a strategic revamp, Hotard and CFO Marco Wiren fleshed out details about its decision to place Enterprise Campus Edge – which bundles private networks, Wi-Fi connectivity and on-premise edge, along with Fixed Wireless Access CPE, Microwave Radio and Site Implementation and Outside Plant – into a dedicated portfolio business segment, separated away from two main operating units: Network Infrastructure and Mobile Infrastructure.

While the official statement announcing the revamp stated it was conducting reviews with a decision on the businesses next year, Hotard revealed during the presentation the units do not tie in with five strategic priorities outlined as part of his vision to tap into opportunities around AI.

He explained that over the past 12 months, the businesses in question generated approximately €900 million in net sales, with a gross margin of 22 per cent and an operating loss of €100 million.

These numbers “set out a plan to improve execution in these businesses and to define the right path forward for each of them during 2026”.

Wiren added Nokia had conducted a review focused on market position, margin profile and strategic fit, with the conclusion that “these are not core to Nokia, and we are not the right owner”.

“We are assessing the best path of each of these businesses and owners as well, and we expect that we will have a solution by the end of 2026.”

Despite the review, a Nokia spokesperson told Mobile World Live its leadership position and commitment to private 5G market remains unchanged.

“Nokia continues to sell radios for private wireless deployments together with Nokia and third-party core. As communicated at our Capital Markets Day, Nokia’s key customer segments include not only telcos, AI and Cloud, but mission-critical enterprises, including defence.”

The post Nokia puts private networks business, others under review appeared first on Mobile World Live.

Unveiled during its Capital Markets Day, the company stated the strategy changes will take effect from 1 January 2026.

Hotard, who took the role in April, has repeatedly teased a strategy shake-up and stated that as the trusted western provider of secure and advanced connectivity, “our technology is powering the AI supercycle”.

To tap into the AI opportunity, the company will focus on five strategic priorities: accelerate in AI and cloud; lead the next era of mobile connectivity with AI-native networks and 6G; grow by co-innovating with customers and partners; focus capital where Nokia can differentiate; and unlock sustainable returns.

From four to two
The biggest change will be moving from four primary operating segments into two: Network Infrastructure and Mobile Infrastructure.

The first “recognises Network Infrastructure as a growth segment” and will consist of three business units: Optical Network; IP Networks and Fixed Networks.

Headed up by David Heard, the unit will look to capitalise on global AI and data centre build-out while focusing on its telecoms customer base. The shift comes after it secured a $1 billion AI infrastructure investment from Nvidia last month.

The Mobile Infrastructure segment brings together the vendor’s Core Networks portfolio, Radio Networks offering and Technology Standards, formerly Nokia Technologies. It will be positioned for core and radio networks technology, with the long-term goal of developing AI-native networks and 6G.

Tommi Uitto, president of Mobile Networks, will step down from the group leadership team as a result of the changes, while current head of Cloud and Network services Raghav Sahgal has been named chief customer officer. Patrik Hammaren has been named president, Technology Standards.

Incubation unit
In addition, four of its units: Fixed Wireless Access CPE; Microwave Radio; Enterprise Campus Edge and Site Implementation and Outside Plant will be moved into a dedicated segment called Portfolio Businesses.

The vendor said it is aiming to conclude on a future direction for each unit during 2026. 

Nokia Defense will be launched as an incubation unit, with the company touting further opportunities for the business in the US, Finland and allied countries.

Nokia said it is now targeting comparable operating profit of €2.7 billion to €3.2 billion by 2028, an increase of €2 billion generated in the last 12 months.

The post Nokia sets out strategy to cash-in on AI boom appeared first on Mobile World Live.

The vendor stated the three-year deal constituted a significant market gain share and positioned it strongly in the country. It won the contract through a tender process.

Nokia explained under the new deal it would expand and modernise 5G capacity and coverage to the operator’s customers in “new regions” alongside those already served by its network equipment.

Among the focus areas is improving coverage in Italy’s small towns and rural areas.

Citing sustainability benefits of its equipment, Nokia said it would install various products from its energy-efficient, AI-ready AirScale Radio Access Network portfolio.

Telecom Italia CEO Pietro Labriola said the partnership “strengthens” the operator’s “leadership in building the next generation of 5G networks, enabling faster, smarter, and more sustainable connectivity across Italy”.

“By combining innovation and efficiency, we are creating the digital infrastructure that will bridge the divide, accelerate industrial transformation, and support the country’s sustainable growth”.

Nokia president and CEO Justin Hotard added: “We’re helping TIM extend coverage and build a foundation for new AI-driven services. Together, we’re connecting intelligence and strengthening Italy’s competitiveness”.

The post Nokia bags extended TIM 5G remit appeared first on Mobile World Live.

In a statement, the vendor noted the unit will focus on 5G and 5G-Advanced features for baseband units, working in collaboration with global RAN software teams.

In June, the company invested to build capabilities in application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) development, with initial plans to add 150 staff.

David Bjore, Ericsson’s head of RAN Software and Compute Platforms, noted the investment shows “how important India is to our work on next-generation technology”.

He added it is developing RAN software in the nation for the first time. “This is a significant step, as it not only supports India’s rising tech scene but also enables us to create solutions in the country that can have a global impact.”

In September, Andres Vicente, Ericsson’ head of Southeast Asia, Oceania and India, told The Economic Times it has long-term commitment to domestically produce all the gear it sells in India.

Ericsson also operates R&D facilities in Chennai and Gurugram.

The post Ericsson adds RAN unit to Bengaluru R&D centre appeared first on Mobile World Live.

The centre is the first joint Nokia–Nvidia AI-RAN collaboration site in Asia and aims to create a local AI grid that will lay the foundation for making the technology accessible to millions of Indonesians, the companies outlined in a joint statement.

Ronnie Vasishta, SVP of telecoms at Nvidia, stated the AI grid is “the biggest opportunity” for telecoms providers to make AI as “ubiquitous as connectivity and distribute intelligence at scale by tapping into their nationwide wireless networks”.

Indosat president director and CEO Vikram Sinha noted when connectivity meets compute, it creates intelligence — delivered at the edge. “This is how AI unlocks real impact, from personalised tutors for children in rural areas to precision farming powered by drones.”

He added with Nokia and Nvidia it is building “the foundation for AI-driven growth that strengthens Indonesia’s digital future”.

Nokia chief technology and AI officer Pallavi Mahajan said the initiative is demonstrating how AI can fundamentally transform the performance and intelligence of telecoms networks as well as building solid foundations for Indonesia’s digital future.

The post Indosat, Nokia, Nvidia set up AI-RAN R&D centre appeared first on Mobile World Live.

Robert Backhouse, CTO Americas at Nokia (pictured, second from right) argued the impact of openness on infrastructure players is more one of evolution than revolution, highlighting how its self-organising network is being used as a foundation for open RAN developments.

The executive noted operators have led the developments of “hundreds of applications” in recent years, a “closed ecosystem” which he said must now be transitioned to Nokia’s new platform and converted into rApps.

Nokia hopes to shake up the industry through a recent tie-up with chip company Nvidia. Backhouse said the pair have worked together for “about 18 months” and hope to “bring some competition” to purpose-built and cloud RAN sectors.

“We’re pretty excited about that announcement.”

Ericsson is also making openness and relevant elements a core part of its offering, senior manager of cloud and open RAN engagement David Bladsjo (pictured, second from left) said.

He highlighted big progress on automation with open management systems Ericsson and the broader industry made over the past year, and said the vendor is now looking to bolster the number of services on offer to capture “very broad” automation opportunities.

Sadayuki Abeta, CTO of OREX SAI, a joint venture between NTT Docomo and NEC (pictured, far right), highlighted there are many levels of disaggregation in the vendor space itself.

The company works with companies including HPE, NEC and other partners, enabling it to cover more bases but also share the risk.

Abeta explained such arrangements can simplify the process of introducing fresh technologies by providing access to proven systems and can contribute to delivering “more secure networks”.

Fresh talent
Everth Flores, VP and head of Samsung Networks Europe (pictured, far left) argued it is a key beneficiary of the shift to open infrastructure, flagging contracts won with Verizon, Vodafone Group and KDDI, among others.

The executive noted automation efforts are being accelerated, but also challenged, by AI, which is delivering performance improvements over traditional infrastructure, along with “operational efficiency” and the chance for Samsung to “build a strong foundation for a data-driven, software-centric network”.

Flores noted the open RAN sector is unlikely to be restricted to 4G or 5G technologies, explaining 2G is likely to remain part of the mix due to the importance of machine-to-machine services within operator’s overall proposition.

The post Nokia, Ericsson peg automation as next open RAN level appeared first on Mobile World Live.

In a statement, the company explained the decision by its board was taken following a review of the trading volumes, costs and administrative requirements related to the listing.

The delisting requires the approval of the board of Euronext Paris and is expected to take effect within the next three months.

Additional details regarding the delisting process will be announced separately, the statement added.

Last week, the Finland-based vendor lined up a $1 billion investment from Nvidia, which will take a 2.9 per cent equity stake in Nokia.

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The consensus across the board during a panel session is the better the quality of the information fed into automation systems, the better the output.

Sameh Yamany, CTO at Viavi Solutions (pictured, far right), explained data which has been synthesised for testing purposes often fails in the field, making collaborations with operators and vendors important.

He noted these relationships must be backed up by a “commercial-grade testing” environment, one which enables more data to be trialled in real-world scenarios.

Aira Technologies founder and CEO Anand Chandrasekher (pictured, second from right) was clear vendors “absolutely” still need operator data to train network automation systems.

He explained his company can get most of the way on its own, with the base models it uses to train its products covering at least 70 per cent of the information it needs.

Detail from operators is required to get the training closer to completion, which is “not intense work” and can be done in around a month.

Chandrasekher argued this would become a self-fulfilling prophecy, with collaboration helping to reduce the amount of operator data required to train automation systems, in turn speeding the process.

Evolution
Rodrigo Correia, head of Solution Line SMO at Ericsson (pictured, far left), called on operators to find a way to provide greater quantities of and more realistic data, explaining it is important the information on hand is evolved “often” to keep pace with emerging developments around agentic AI and other technologies.

Rakuten Symphony benefits from being part of its namesake Group and its mobile operator in Japan.

Anshul Bhatt, chief product officer in the OSS Business Unit and head of Intelligent Operations (pictured, second from left), said its experience is that people must remain involved in any RAN automation system.

People with knowledge of their field can “qualitatively analyse and improve and keep” data under watch.

Bhatt said the technology and data are largely in place, meaning attention is now turning to how to access the information required.

The post Vendors seek operator input on RAN automation appeared first on Mobile World Live.

Net profit in the nine-month period sank 32.7 per cent year-on-year to CNY5.3 billion ($746.6 million), impacted by a 30 per cent jump in operating costs to CNY69.8 billion.

Operating revenue grew 11.6 per cent to CNY100.5 billion, with a 130 per cent increase in sales in its government-enterprise segment more than offsetting pressure on its carrier networks business. The vendor highlighted a softening of infrastructure investment in China, driven by a continued slowdown in 5G spending.

The company said its consumer business maintained stable growth.

Revenue from computing-related businesses rose 180 per cent and accounted for 25 per cent of total sales. Within this segment, server and storage sales jumped by 250 per cent, while data centre revenue rose 120 per cent.

ZTE did not break down full sales data for its business units in its Q3 earnings report. The company typically provides a broader view in its full-year and interim reports.

The company earmarked CNY17.8 billion, or 18 per cent of total revenue, to R&D during the period.

The post ZTE profit drops as 5G investment slows appeared first on Mobile World Live.

The investment is to be made through the issuance of fresh Nokia shares and will result in Nvidia holding a 2.9 per cent stake in the vendor once customary closing conditions are met.

Nokia stated it intends to use the proceeds to speed development of its 5G and 6G RAN software for Nvidia architecture, along with their broader AI infrastructure arrangement.

The AI-native infrastructure collaboration could also be extended to cover Nokia’s data centre switching and optical technologies.

Nokia and Nvidia separately stated the AI-RAN work would act as a foundation for distributed edge inferencing along with fresh services for consumers and enterprises.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang believes the developments will contribute to US efforts to “regain global leadership” in telecoms infrastructure by making it a frontrunner in AI-RAN.

The companies are working with T-Mobile US and Dell Technologies on developments involving the infrastructure.

Huang said Nvidia and Nokia are “igniting” an AI-RAN revolution, “equipping operators to build intelligent, adaptive networks that will define the next generation of global connectivity”.

Nokia CEO Justin Hotard said the tie-up is necessary because the “next leap in telecom isn’t just from 5G to 6G: it’s a fundamental redesign of the network” involving AI connectivity which can process “intelligence from the data centre all the way to the edge”.

Nvidia and Nokia predict AI-RAN will provide a bump in mobile network performance and efficiency required by current and future iterations of the technology.

They stated almost half of the 800 million weekly active users of ChatGPT access it on mobile devices.

Nvidia aims to ease the transition from 5G-A to 6G through Aerial RAN Computer Pro (ARC-Pro), an accelerated computing platform enabling operators to switch using software updates. It is making a reference design available to encourage broad backing by other manufacturers and network equipment vendors.

Nokia plans to include ARC-Pro in a new AI-RAN product it stated would ease the transition from traditional radio infrastructure.

Partners
The Finnish vendor’s ambition is in part being advanced by Dell Technologies’ PowerEdge servers, which provide no-touch software upgrades and only minimal intervention on the silicon side.

T-Mobile’s involvement builds on an existing collaboration with Nvidia on AI-native infrastructure. The operator plans to test the technologies developed by the chip company and Nokia, with a target of commencing field trials covering performance and efficiency gains in 2026.

John Saw, president of technology and CTO at T-Mobile, said Nokia’s involvement with the pair is “an important step towards shaping the future of connectivity”, in particular preparations for 6G.

The post Nvidia invests $1B in Nokia AI-RAN push appeared first on Mobile World Live.

The Vietnamese operator is tasking Nokia with improving infrastructure around Hanoi, in border areas and the southern region. The vendor noted the geographies cover important economic and social hubs, with the upgrades expected to contribute to broader financial growth and digital inclusion goals.

VNPT CEO Huynh Quang Liem said the work will aid targets around boosting connectivity and digital access.

Nokia stated it would provide VNPT with equipment from its AirScale portfolio running its ReefShark system-on-chip technology.

The operator can expect a boost in network capacity, reduced power consumption and low-latency, Nokia explained.

Hiro Miura, head of Southeast Asia Market Unit at Nokia, said the areas covered by the upgrade would gain “better access to essential digital services” and related economic benefits.

The agreement builds on a move Nokia made in 2024 to establish an AirScale manufacturing hub in Vietnam.

The post VNPT gives Nokia nod on radio upgrades appeared first on Mobile World Live.

In a statement, the companies explained under the partnership they will “jointly define and promote” R&D across four areas: 6G, AI for RAN, AI and RAN, and SoftBank’s large telecoms model.

SoftBank CTO Hideyuki Tsukuda noted by combining expertise, the pair will “accelerate the realisation of next-generation networks that evolve to become more efficient and highly reliable through AI-RAN”.

Jeong Jin-guk Jeong, head of Samsung’s Advanced Communications Research Centre, added the tie-up aims to “define meaningful use cases” for operators and end-users, while securing key technologies for future commercialisation.

The operator and Samsung, Nokia and Ericsson are founding members of the AI-RAN Alliance, which was established in early 2024 to improve RAN performance and capability using AI.

The post SoftBank, Samsung partner on AI-RAN appeared first on Mobile World Live.

“We delivered a solid performance in Q3,” with all business groups growing, he stated.

Next month he said the company will share its strategy to “unlock the full potential” of its portfolio and the steps it is taking to focus the company to deliver growth.

He added the AI supercycle is accelerating demand for providers of advanced connectivity, claiming Nokia is “uniquely positioned” to be a leader.

Following a strategic review, Hotard noted it decided to scale down its passive venture fund investments, resulting in an increase of €100 million to its operating profit outlook, which is now €1.7 billion to €2.2 billion.

Q3 results
Net profit dropped 54 per cent year-on-year to €80 million, with total revenue rising 12 per cent to €4.8 billion, led by 28 per cent growth in network infrastructure sales and 19 per cent growth in optical network revenue.

Its mobile network business was flat at €1.8 billion, while cloud and network services increased 8 per cent to €645 million.

Hotard said its gross margin declined 150 basis points year-on-year, due to an expected weaker software contribution in mobile networks, balancing the higher-than-normal contribution in Q2, and product mix effects in network infrastructure.

The post Nokia profit drops despite double-digit sales growth appeared first on Mobile World Live.

Vivek Murthy, president of OSS at Rakuten Symphony, explained the company is excited to join TIP as the group and its board recommit to goals it also is pursuing, namely delivering better connectivity at lower costs with a broader ecosystem of suppliers than what is available today.

He added it will first engage with TIP in three areas: data observability, data management and service assurance. “The more we can align between existing and new best practices, the less the friction of change and solution fragmentation that appears later.”

TIP executive director Kristian Toivo added Rakuten Mobile is a pioneering telecoms operator in Japan, and Rakuten Symphony “brings that deep expertise with proven solutions to the telecoms landscape”.

With experience in data-driven, cloud-native and AI-first systems, Toivo noted Rakuten Symphony will strengthen TIP’s collaborative efforts to accelerate innovation, validate new technologies and drive commercial readiness.

Rakuten Symphony was set up to export Rakuten Mobile’s software-based model to markets outside Japan.

Rakuten Mobile joined TIP in November 2019, while rival KDDI became a TIP member in 2020, when it opened the first community lab in Japan.

TIP was founded in 2016 by Facebook, Nokia, Intel, Deutsche Telekom, EE and a number of other mobile operators. It now has more than 180 members.

The post Rakuten Symphony signs up to TIP appeared first on Mobile World Live.

In what is rapidly becoming a PR spin-war between the vendor and rival Ericsson to claim the most significant slice of Vodafone’s big Spring 6 tender, Samsung’s announcement coincided with an Ericsson statement today (14 October) that it had signed a five-year deal to be the operator’s exclusive RAN partner in three markets and maintained “major vendor” status in Germany, Romania and Egypt.

Nokia too got in on the action, stating it had “maintained” its role as a strategic Vodafone and Vodacom partner in Europe and Africa.

For Samsung, the major update was providing details on its deal with Vodafone in Germany, where it said it would serve as the operator’s “primary partner”. This arrangement also extends to other European markets, which were undisclosed. It had already announced its open RAN deal with Vodafone at the start of the month, without naming individual markets.

It added Germany was the first market to implement its open RAN offering to become one of the largest deployments in Europe. The first site is already live in Hannover, and Wismar will become the second city fully equipped with open RAN in early 2026.   

Across a five-year programme, Samsung said it would with work with Vodafone to add thousands of open RAN sites across Europe. Samsung reiterated plans to provide its vRAN offering, supporting 2G, 4G and 5G and deliver O-RAN compliant radios including massive MIMO radios.

Alberto Ripepi, chief network officer at Vodafone, said open RAN was a key pillar in its network evolution and “the next step in our journey is to extend open RAN to reach many more countries”.

The post Samsung claims primary Vodafone vendor deal in Germany appeared first on Mobile World Live.

The five-year deal also includes terms to maintain Ericsson’s major vendor status for Vodafone’s operations in Germany, Romania and Egypt.

Vodafone stated the modernisation of its RAN infrastructure and management will lay the foundation for widespread deployment of standalone 5G, as well deploying Ericsson’s open RAN compatible Massive MIMO radios and RAN compute solutions. The vendor will also use 5G-Advanced RAN software capabilities across networks in the markets.

The pan-European deal further introduces Ericsson Intelligent Automation Platform and a number of AI-powered rApps, which will be deployed market-by-market to deliver automated RAN optimisation, energy efficiency and multi-vendor network management capabilities.

Germany will be the first to benefit from rApps and multi-vendor RAN management, with work beginning at the end of 2025.

Deal spree
As well as modernising network infrastructure with the latest equipment and 5G-Advanced capabilities, Alberto Ripepi, chief network officer at Vodafone said the partnership with Ericsson would lay the groundwork to capitalise on the emerging market for network APIs through venture Aduna.

“This powerful combination will allow us to expose our network capabilities to developers, spurring a wave of innovation in applications and services,” he said.

Vodafone’s deal with Ericsson follows an open RAN partnership with Samsung covering multiple European countries, announced earlier this month.

VodafoneThree also handed a large network upgrade contract to Ericsson and Nokia last month, with the Swedish vendor claiming the bulk of the deal.

The post Vodafone hands Ericsson 5-year Europe RAN deal appeared first on Mobile World Live.

Andres Vicente, Ericsson’ head of Southeast Asia, Oceania and India (pictured), told the newspaper the country has “a lifetime opportunity” to become an alternative production hub, which can make all the required components.

He explained to develop sophisticated products, it still imports many components. “We need to change that by investing in a holistic way, not only in anchor brands like Ericsson, but also in the ecosystem of components, filters, batteries and many other things.”

The Sweden-based company currently manufactures a range of 4G and 5G equipment in India.

Vicente said Ericsson plans to initiate 6G trials next year.

In a release related to India Mobile Congress 2025, he added “India is on a remarkable growth trajectory” and the local innovation ecosystem can “fully leverage the potential of the 5G platform and innovate not only for India but for the world”.

Its India operations continue to serve as a strategic global innovation hub, with three R&D centres focused on advanced areas such as AI, 6G and chip design, the statement noted.

It recently expanded its ASIC R&D in Bengaluru and launched production of passive antennas in India in collaboration with VVDN Technologies.

The post Ericsson vows to scale up India production appeared first on Mobile World Live.

Marking ZTE’s 40^th anniversary since being founded and the 12^th year of its congress, CEO Xu Ziyang (pictured) urged delegates to use the show to provide the vendor with their suggestions about what the industry needs for the AI era and how it can deliver.

“We need to find the opportunity to win together.”

The executive discussed the company’s networks for AI and AI for networks vision, while explaining the importance of focusing on connectivity and computing as “decoupled systems”, which must integrate.

Staying on the AI theme, he added the industry is beginning to evolve from one centred on “bytes to tokens”, which will ultimately bring new business models for the fore.

“More and more AI applications improve core productivity to make the whole world better,” he concluded.

Necessary
GSMA Ltd CEO John Hoffman hailed ZTE’s work to evolve the industry, including a shift from 5G to 5G-Advanced in more developed markets.

He pointed to the vendor’s deployment of 5G-A at the Asian Games as an example, when the technology connected 600,000 customers and spectators.

Hoffman was keen to emphasise the importance of telecoms connectivity in ensuring the success of AI.

He said ZTE is at the “forefront”, pointing to AI-related use cases including a green telecoms cloud and a fraud detection service, developed with China Telecom and China Unicom, respectively.

Hoffman also touched on the telecoms usage gap, calling for well-designed policy which addresses the fact that 3.4 billion people globally are not using the mobile internet.

He pointed to positive moves in Argentina and South Africa as examples, where governments have cut taxes on smartphones.

“We call on more governments to follow their lead. Stop taxing smartphones as if they are luxury items. They are not. They are a necessity for life today.”

The post ZTE, GSMA issue call to action on AI opportunity appeared first on Mobile World Live.

The vendor stated that under a global agreement, it will combine Juniper Networks’ RIC with its MantaRay AI-powered Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) and network automation assets.

RIC and SMO development teams from HPE moved to Nokia Mobile Networks division on 1 October as part of the deal.

In a post on LinkedIn before Nokia’s announcement, Constantine Polychronopoulos, group VP of 5G and Telco Cloud at Juniper Networks, said it would team with Nokia Mobile Networks’ network management team, while hailing five years of work to develop its RIC platform and SMO system for on-demand and end-to-end network slicing.

Tommi Uitto, president of Mobile Networks at Nokia, stated customers worldwide would benefit from the enhanced capabilities of its “AI-driven automation, orchestration and open ecosystems, enabling them to manage multi-vendor networks more efficiently and prepare for the transition from 5G to 6G”.

Operators including Rakuten Symphony, Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone Group previously announced trials of Juniper Networks’ RIC platform.

MantaRay SMO is Nokia’s advanced-AI driven, zero touch automation product which it states is fully open-RAN compliant.

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In a statement, the South Korean vendor noted it will deliver its virtualised RAN (vRAN) and open RAN equipment, with support across 2G, 4G and 5G, as well as O-RAN-compliant radios.

The vendor argued vRAN serves as “an optimal foundation for AI”, enabling operators to seamlessly integrate AI capabilities into their networks.

The upgraded radios and software capabilities improve energy efficiency and performance, and support RAN sharing, Samsung said.

Last month, VodafoneThree awarded eight-year contracts valued at more than £2 billion to Ericsson and Nokia to build out the newly formed UK operator’s mobile network, with Samsung not included in the 5G deployment.

Vodafone Group head of open RAN Paco Martin said last November it was in the process of finalising its open RAN tender, stating at the time the technology is already commercial and delivering for the company.

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The Australian operator is under pressure after the latest network failure, which came a few days after a major issue left users unable to call emergency services.

In a statement issued yesterday (30 September), Optus explained it and Ericsson are collaborating to establish what went wrong, with the vendor finding a unique anomaly after commencing a review.

The operator stated Ericsson equipment in the tower “did not appear to operate as it should”, showing as active but failing to transfer calls to other networks.

Early indications are Optus’ 5G service was not affected, with its 4G offer bearing the brunt of the problems. It explained the latest technology is not used for voice services.

Ericsson’s equipment “did not alarm that 4G services were not operational”, Optus explained. The vendor’s global product development team is analysing the anomaly found.

Optus emphasised the tower is now fully operational and the incident “was not caused by any upgrade or maintenance activity”, a reference to the root of its previous outage.

Ericsson told Mobile World Live the problem was restricted to a single mobile tower and it is taking the issue seriously, with its Australian and global staff giving the matter their “full attention”, working with Optus to investigate the cause.

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Solomzi Mnyaka, the operator’s general manager of Network Services Engineering and L2 Support (pictured, front, left of centre), said it advanced its goal to build an up-to-date network capable of meeting customer needs which is adaptable for future developments.

MTN deployed Ericsson’s cloud-native policy controller and packet core gateway, providing it with a dual-mode 5G set up Mnyaka said hastens its responsiveness and ability to deploy fresh services.

Ericsson stated MTN is the first operator in Africa to employ its Cloud Core Policy Controller (CCPC) in a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) configuration.

The approach provides the ability to put real-time dynamic policies into action, initially on non-standalone 5G but with compatibility for a future SA edition.

MTN deployed the vendor’s cloud-native packet core and user management functions during the opening half of the year as part of a broader network modernisation deal its parent company agreed with Ericsson in early 2024.

Ericsson stated the work is already paying off, delivering a world first In-Service Software Upgrade (ISSU) on its Packet Core Gateway node with a collocated firewall without interrupting the 2.5 million users active on the network at the time.

A Container-as-a-Service Rolling Upgrade on a relevant platform was also handled while 2 million active sessions were taking place. Ericsson branded the deployment as a “key milestone” in MTN’s automation journey.

Sandile Dhlomo, head of Ericsson South Africa (pictured, front, right of centre), said it provided MTN with a “more flexible and automated policy framework that supports monetisation, network evolution and enriched user experiences”.

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In a statement, VodafoneThree explained it had selected partners to deliver one of the UK’s largest privately funded infrastructure projects, with deals totalling more than £2 billion, as part of a wider £11 billion network investment plan.

It said Ericsson and Nokia made up the majority, but not the entirety of VodafoneThree’s network build, “which will culminate in a greater number of sites”.

In response to the news, rival vendor Samsung Networks told Mobile World Live it respected VodafoneThree’s decision to “consolidate their existing vendor relationships”.

A spokesperson added that despite missing out in the UK, it will be named as a “major” vendor in Vodafone’s Spring 6 tender, when the operator names partners for a network infrastructure upgrade covering 15 countries across Europe and Africa “sometime in October”.

“This development allows us to support Vodafone’s Open RAN deployment at scale across Europe,” added Samsung.

Majority and Significant
Ericsson released its own announcement stating it would power “the majority of VodafoneThree’s next-generation UK network,” in an SEK12.5 billion deal (£1 billion).

As part of an eight-year agreement, Ericsson will be tasked with supplying its entire core network, as well as radio system products and software solutions to power a significant majority of the operator’s enhanced radio network.

Ericsson added it had secured a primary vendor partnership status, allowing it to deploy 5G standalone network hardware and its technology would exclusively cover four UK capitals: London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.

Nokia meanwhile described its share of the award as “significant”, in a move which marks its return as a supplier for Vodafone and Three in the UK.

The Finnish vendor also secured an eight-year deal, supplying equipment from its RAN portfolio to approximately 7,000 sites in the UK and modernise a part of VodafoneThree’s voice core.

VodafoneThree CEO Max Taylor said the company is making good on a promise to “deliver at pace” just a few months into its merger, completed in June.

The post VodafoneThree hands Ericsson, Nokia £2B UK contracts appeared first on Mobile World Live.

The vendor is providing its RIC, including open multi-vendor support and a suite of applications as part of its Samsung CognitiV Network Operations Suite to optimise the performance of Telus’ wireless network.

Samsung’s RIC includes a KPI anomaly detector, energy saving and load balancing management tools to identify issues, predict traffic and optimise resource use on legacy and virtualised networks.

The vendor completed an initial RIC software delivery in July, with extensive testing planned across Canada during the rest of the year.

A representative for Samsung told Mobile World Live (MWL) the two companies identified an initial market and several applications such as the load balancing manager, energy saving manager and KPI analysis and insights managers, which will be the first to deploy on the RIC.

They expect those applications will be operational in the network by early next year.

Telus and Samsung’s RIC collaboration builds on a previous arrangement covering open RAN.

RICs control applications which manage a range of functions on the network known as rApps, which use RAN data to improve various aspects including coverage, capacity, efficiency and service quality.

There are near-real time and non-real time RIC variants.

The controllers can run dynamic networking features including switching-off radios during non-peak times to cut energy costs.

Analyst take
James Crawshaw, practice leader of Omdia’s service provider transformation team, told MWL since Samsung supplied Telus with service management and orchestration (SMO) capabilities, “it was a given they would also supply the non-real time RIC as this is a subcomponent of the SMO and no operator seems interested in using a RIC from one vendor with an SMO from another”.

“I think the only other customer of Samsung’s CognitiV suite at the moment is KDDI although other operators have trialled it.”

Crawshaw said Ericsson has the most live deployments of SMO, with its Intelligent Automation Platform being sold to AT&T, Swisscom and Telstra.

“Nokia has evolved its SON solution to meet the open RAN specs, so I expect them to be Ericsson’s main competitor in the market.”

“But there are other notable players including those who also come from a strong SON heritage like Qualcomm, thanks to its acquisition of Cellwize, and Juniper Networks, which developed its own SMO and RIC from scratch.”

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