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Nokia and SoftBank Set 2027 AI-RAN Trial in Japan
Nokia and SoftBank plan a 2027 AI-RAN field trial on SoftBank’s commercial network in Japan. The test will pair Nokia’s anyRAN and MantaRay software with SoftBank’s AITRAS platform to examine how AI and radio workloads can share computing r
AI.info Team · Written with AI · fact-checked ·
Nokia and SoftBank want AI computing and mobile-radio operations to share a platform, but the test will have to show that AI workloads do not compromise the service quality and stability a commercial network requires. The companies plan to put that arrangement under commercial traffic conditions in Japan in 2027.
The trial will run Nokia’s anyRAN software on SoftBank’s AITRAS platform and connect SoftBank’s AITRAS Orchestrator with Nokia’s MantaRay network-management software. Nokia’s announcement is dated October 16, 2026; SoftBank published its own release on October 20.
Commercial traffic raises the test’s stakes
Unlike a lab demonstration, the planned field trial will operate in SoftBank’s commercial network environment under commercial traffic conditions, Nokia says. The companies have not announced a specific site, start date or duration for the 2027 test.
The trial will examine whether AI and radio access network (RAN) workloads can run together on shared computing infrastructure while the network continues to meet its operating requirements. SoftBank says its orchestrator will coordinate resource allocation using factors including available capacity, application needs and predicted power consumption.
AITRAS will host Nokia’s anyRAN software
SoftBank’s AITRAS platform is designed to run its own RAN software as well as software from other vendors and edge AI applications. The Nokia trial will put anyRAN, Nokia’s AI-native RAN software, on that platform, while MantaRay and the AITRAS Orchestrator coordinate management of RAN and AI workloads.
The companies say the arrangement will test whether AITRAS can serve as a shared platform rather than one tied to a single RAN software supplier. SoftBank identifies the planned computing system as NVIDIA’s Aerial RAN Computer MGX 2U Short, with a Grace CPU, RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell Server Edition GPU and ConnectX-8 networking.
Reliability is the condition for sharing resources
The technical challenge is not simply running both types of software on the same hardware. RAN workloads support mobile connectivity, while AI applications can make competing demands on processing and power; the orchestrator must manage those demands without degrading network quality or stability.
SoftBank says the test will examine coordinated management of both workloads while maintaining the requirements placed on the RAN. Nokia’s chief technology and AI officer, Pallavi Mahajan, said, “As the boundaries between network and compute continue to blur, this distributed infrastructure can become a powerful platform for both connectivity and AI.”
A trial, not a commercial rollout
The agreement marks a planned field test, not a commitment to deploy the combined system across SoftBank’s network. Nokia describes the work as part of its AI-RAN commercialization roadmap; SoftBank says it will use the trial to advance AITRAS’s application to commercial networks and assess support for software from multiple RAN vendors.
The companies also point to potential uses that need low-latency, real-time processing, including robotics and autonomous systems. Whether the shared platform can support those workloads alongside commercial radio service is among the questions the 2027 trial is intended to test.