The cell tower is getting a gpu
the cell tower is getting a gpu: nokia will start selling nvidia-powered network gear in 2027 after launching the industry’s first commercial ai-ran platform, promising to double the capacity of existing spectrum by 2028, while t-mobile and softbank already trial ai schedulers on live 5g advanced networks. ericsson’s ai in ran subscription claims 20 percent higher downlink across 15 live deployments.
the base station is becoming a data center on a pole.
Context
Nokia announced on Jul 15, 2026 what it calls the industry's first commercial AI-RAN platform, built on its anyRAN software and NVIDIA's Aerial platform. Nokia says it targets 50 percent spectral gains by 2027 and more than 100 percent by 2028, with pilots at the end of the year and commercial availability in 2027.
Nokia reported functional tests with T-Mobile, Indosat and SoftBank Corp on NVIDIA GPUs in March 2026.
The 2027 availability and the roughly doubling by 2028 match Nokia, which states spectral efficiency, not capacity. T-Mobile and SoftBank are named as functional test partners; whether their schedulers run on live 5G Advanced networks, and Ericsson's 20 percent higher downlink across 15 live deployments, were not seen in the sources read, so unsupported here, not refuted.
Related work
- Nokia: The industry's first AI-native RAN platform ↗Primary release.
- RCR Wireless: Nokia preps AI-RAN in 2027 ↗Analyst view.
- Nokia: AI-RAN momentum with new partnerships (GlobeNewswire) ↗Partner tests.
Watch next
- Find Ericsson's AI in RAN deployment figures.
Sources
- Nokia, Jul 15, 2026nokia.com
- RCR Wireless, Jul 15, 2026rcrwireless.com
- GlobeNewswire, Mar 1, 2026globenewswire.com
Provenance
The note above is reproduced unedited from the original post, first published on Threads on 2 October 2026 at 19:55 IST. Sources are the papers and datasets the note draws on.
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