Nokia and SoftBank Corp. to Run Commercial AI-RAN Field Trial in Japan in 2027

Nokia Oyj (NOK) said Tuesday it agreed with SoftBank Corp. (9434.T) to conduct a commercial AI-RAN field trial in Japan in 2027, testing the technology in a live network under commercial traffic conditions. The deployment will use Nokia's anyRAN software on SoftBank's AITRAS AI-RAN platform with NVIDIA's Aerial RAN Computer and the AITRAS Orchestrator. The trial will assess key AI-RAN capabilities and move the technology from laboratory development toward real-world deployment, advancing Nokia's commercialization roadmap. Nokia said AI-RAN could unlock new levels of spectral efficiency and provide distributed intelligence to support physical AI. In overnight NYSE trading, Nokia shares fell 0.88% to $9.00; SoftBank Corp. shares traded at 246.10 yen in Tokyo, down 0.08%.