CTO Mahajan said commercial AI-RAN would arrive in 2027
Nokia said it was developing AI-RAN with Nvidia at last year's MWC
Field trial units will arrive late in 2026
MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2026, BARCELONA – Nokia said that their first commercial AI-RAN products will be available in 2027.
Talking from the stage at Nokia’s press and analyst event on “Day zero” of Mobile World Congress 2026, the company’s Chief Technology and AI Officer, Pallavi Mahajan, said that their commercial AI-RAN solution would be ready in 2027.
“End of 2026 is when we have our first commercial trial,” she elucidated. “2027 is when we have our first commercial release.”
Nokia CEO Justin Hotard told T-Mobile CTO John Saw that the telco would get units to trial in the field in 2026.
Nokia unveiled its AI-RAN ambitions with Nvidia at MWC last year. Nvidia followed that up investing $1 billion in Nokia in late October 2025. Nokia is a founding member of the AI-RAN Alliance, which is focused on shaping the industry roadmap for AI-native networks. Hotard said there are currently 150 members of the alliance.
Now the Nokia's wheels are turning on delivering actual AI-RAN products to operator networks in less than two years.
Read all of our coverage from Mobile World Congress 2026 in Barcelona here.