AI-RAN technology commercialization accelerates and UK defense cooperation deepens! Nokia (NOK.US) shares rise in pre-market trading

According to Zhitong Finance APP, Finnish network equipment manufacturer Nokia (NOK.US) announced that its AI-RAN (Artificial Intelligence Radio Access Network) technology is seeing a significant acceleration in global commercialization, while its UK defense business has made new progress. Boosted by this news, as of press time, Nokia's US pre-market shares on Wednesday rose nearly 6%.

Nokia stated that AI-RAN technology is gaining increasing momentum worldwide. Currently, major global telecom operators in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East are advancing the AI-RAN technology, based on NVIDIA (NVDA.US) Aerial RAN computing platform, from early-stage evaluations to laboratory and live field testing phases.

It is reported that the roster of partner operators announced this time has been further expanded, including A1 Group, Chunghwa Telecom, du, e&, Mobily, stc, TPG Telecom, and Zain Saudi Arabia, forming a vast business ecosystem together with previously announced partners such as NTT DOCOMO from Japan. Emma Falck, President of Nokia Mobile Networks, said that the continuous improvement in service provider participation shows AI-RAN is moving from an industry concept toward "commercial reality."

AI-RAN combines artificial intelligence with radio access network technology to optimize mobile network use of spectrum and computing resources. The platform integrates Nokia's AI-native anyRAN software with the NVIDIA Aerial RAN computing platform, designed for 5G networks with a software upgrade path to evolve toward AI-native 6G.

Nokia stated that the platform has already achieved more than 20% improvement in spectrum efficiency, with a clear software evolution roadmap set out, expecting a larger efficiency breakthrough between 2027 and 2028. The platform will not only help operators improve utilization of existing assets and build software-defined 5G networks but also lay a solid foundation for future upgrades to AI-native 6G and for deploying AI workloads at the network edge.

Meanwhile, Nokia announced that its defense division has signed a memorandum of understanding with UK systems engineering and security services firm C3IA to support the digital transformation of UK defense operations. The two companies plan to jointly develop solutions covering tactical and operational communications, private 4G and 5G, command and control, sensing, autonomous systems, and edge computing. This partnership is also built upon the companies’ joint participation in the UK Ministry of Defence's TacSys framework—which provides future tactical communications access to Nokia’s connectivity portfolio.

Mikko Viitaniemi, Head of Nokia’s Defense business, said that this collaboration aims to combine mission-critical connectivity capabilities with C3IA's expertise in defense system engineering, in order to advance tactical communications and interoperability in future UK projects.