NVIDIA and Nokia want to turn mobile networks into distributed AI data centres
Deutsche Telekom, Orange and Elisa are adding NVIDIA hardware to their own networks to run AI close to customers. Commercial AI-RAN services are slated for 2027. No Norwegian operators are named.
NVIDIA and Nokia want to turn mobile networks into a distributed web of AI data centres. European telecom operators including Deutsche Telekom, Orange and Finland's Elisa are adding NVIDIA hardware to their own data centres, regional hubs and cell sites so AI models can run closer to users. At the same time, Nokia and Cisco are building NVIDIA's open Nemotron models into the software operators use to run their networks.
The news came at GTC Berlin on Wednesday 21 October 2026. NVIDIA Newsroom posted it on X at 12:15 Norwegian time, the same day the company published a press release. Pricing, capacity and when the services become available to business customers are not disclosed.
What NVIDIA and the operators are announcing
NVIDIA writes that operators are adding accelerated computing to central data centres, metro sites and cell sites. The idea is that telecom companies already own land, power, fibre and spectrum, and can sell AI capacity close to customers on top of that.
The press release lists concrete plans. Deutsche Telekom will expand its Industrial AI Cloud, which already hosts open models for customers such as robotics company Agile Robots. Orange offers open models as a managed service on its Live Intelligence platform and is testing voice services that translate between languages in real time for emergency and field service teams. Elisa has deployed an enterprise voice assistant at a distributed network site.
Nine operators in Europe, the Middle East and Africa are building new or expanding existing NVIDIA infrastructure. New sites are coming at CRA in the Czech Republic, etisalat in the United Arab Emirates, Silknet in Georgia and TIM in Italy. Cassava, Deutsche Telekom, Fastweb + Vodafone, Kazakhtelecom and Orion Telecom are expanding. No Norwegian operators are named.
AI inside the radio network
The second part concerns AI-RAN, where the radio part of the mobile network runs on the same GPU platform as the AI services. NVIDIA says nearly 20 operators worldwide have announced AI-RAN collaborations using Nokia's anyRAN software and NVIDIA's ARC platform.
T-Mobile in the US has completed what NVIDIA calls the world's first AI-RAN call on a commercial network. Elisa ran voice, mobile data and video analytics simultaneously on ARC in a field trial over 5G. According to NVIDIA, the trial clears the way for commercial AI-RAN services in 2027. BT plans field trials in Birmingham in 2027, and Deutsche Telekom intends to move from lab validation to field trials the same year. Orange is testing Nokia's 5G software on ARC.
NVIDIA is also launching two new ARC server configurations for central radio sites. Dell, Quanta Cloud Technology and Supermicro will offer ARC-ready servers.
Agents to run the networks
The third part is about operations. Nokia is building Nemotron into its Autonomous Networks Suite and using NVIDIA Agent Toolkit for agents that manage operations across fixed, radio, core and transport networks. Cisco has fine-tuned Nemotron models into Crosswork AI. TCS and NTT DATA are building agents to detect, diagnose and fix network faults, and BT is using Nemotron for agents that inspect photos from field installations.
All of this is the companies' own description. The press release gives no measured effects on uptime, cost or fault rates.
What Norwegian leaders should note
- Telecom operators are positioning themselves as suppliers of AI capacity with data kept in-country. That could give organisations that need to keep data close a new alternative to the big cloud providers, but no Norwegian operator is part of this announcement.
- AI-RAN is still at the trial stage. Most field trials and commercial services are slated for 2027, so this does not affect mobile service procurement today.
- Organisations buying network services from operators that run Nokia or Cisco software should ask how AI agents in operations are governed, logged and stopped when they make changes to the network.
Sources and media
- NVIDIA Newsroom on X: telecom operators adopt NVIDIA computing and AI-RAN with Nokia, post published 21.10.2026 at 12:15 Norwegian time
- NVIDIA: NVIDIA, Nokia and Leading Telecom Operators Turn Networks Into Distributed Intelligence Platforms, press release dated 21.10.2026
- Sources were checked on 21.10.2026.
- Illustration: AI-generated with Grok Bot / hogby.ai
