INTERVIEW: Nokia chief technology and AI officer Pallavi Mahajan and Nvidia SVP of telco Ronnie Vasishta told the Mobile World Live Podcast their AI-RAN partnership is showing tangible progress, as they announced close to 20 operators are lined up for lab and commercial trials of the technology.

In an exclusive interview to outline progress of their efforts, Vasishta and Mahajan highlighted the fact it had only been 12 months since the two companies announced a joint AI-RAN partnership, which included a $1 billion investment from Nvidia into the Finnish vendor.

A year on, today (21 October) at Nvidia’s GTC 2026 event in Berlin the duo announced almost 20 operators globally have committed to AI-RAN collaboration, including 10 from EMEA. Mahajan said these operators are at different stages, lined up for both lab and commercial trials.

In 2027 trials are expected from BT Group, Deutsche Telekom and Elisa, with the latter preparing for commercial deployment.

In the US, T-Mobile has completed what was claimed as the world’s first AI-RAN call on a live network, while in France Orange is introducing new voice and intelligence services for enterprises based on the technology.

Speed of light
Vasishta told MWL it was hard to overhype development based on the progress it had seen over the past year, and the number of trials and deployment is only set to grow.

“A year ago, or two years ago for sure, I think people would have scoffed at the idea. Nokia talking about operator commercialisation with AI-RAN, I think, that would have been perhaps seen as somewhat sceptical.”

Mahajan concurred, describing the pace of development as occurring “at the speed of light” with the game changer centred on being able to outline the true “value of what AI brings in terms of making RAN efficient” such as significant spectrum efficiency gains.

“In the next few years, the distinction between the networks and computing infrastructure will just blur,” she said, inevitably opening up a host of operator opportunities across applications beyond 5G and 6G.

Vasishta added Nvidia had started on the journey of software-defined RAN eight years ago and the inclusion of Nokia in 2025 had accelerated this dramatically.

“We see all operators around the world are created differently. They service different markets, they have different DNA, but overall, all of them have gravitated towards this concept now of AI RAN.”

Click here to listen to the full interview.

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Amazon outlined plans to invest more than €16 billion in its German operations in 2027 to expand its AI infrastructure, cloud computing and satellite connectivity.

The move adds to more than €100 billion Amazon invested in Germany since 2010 as it races against rivals Google and Microsoft to build out its AI services and cloud infrastructure in the nation.

David Zapolsky, chief global affairs and legal officer, described Germany as a centre of innovation and one of Europe’s most attractive investment destinations.

“We want German businesses, communities and creators to have the infrastructure and tools they need to compete and grow.”

The fresh investment includes €4.8 billion to expand Amazon Web Services’ Frankfurt cloud region and AI infrastructure to meet increasing customer demand.

It plans to bolster connectivity through its Amazon Leo satellite network to provide high-speed internet across the country.

Amazon Leo has secured 24 slots with European launch provider Arianespace.

The company plans to also broaden its logistics footprint and create new content for its Prime Video platform.

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