The AI-RAN Alliance: Pioneering the Future of Intelligent Mobile Networks

As the telecom industry advances toward next-generation connectivity, the integration of Artificial Intelligence into Radio Access Networks (RAN) is emerging as a strategic priority. The AI-RAN Alliance, formed to accelerate this transition, is now collaborating with leading AI cloud computing service providers to reimagine how mobile networks manage and respond to data in real time.

But what does AI-RAN truly entail, and why is its influence growing rapidly across the sector?

Here’s a closer look at this pivotal innovation.

What is AI-RAN? 

AI-RAN refers to the integration of Artificial Intelligence into Radio Access Networks (RAN), which are the systems connecting mobile devices to the internet. By harnessing machine learning, deep learning, and advanced analytics, AI optimizes network performance across tasks such as traffic management, fault detection, and resource allocation. It allows networks to self-optimize, adapt to changing conditions in real time, and cut operational costs. Additionally, AI helps telecom operators predict congestion, optimize energy usage, and create new revenue opportunities by monetizing unused computing capacity at the network edge.

Features of AI-RAN

• AI-Powered Optimization: Automates essential tasks, improving network efficiency and uptime.

• Self-Organizing Networks: Facilitates real-time network reconfiguration to adapt to varying traffic and environmental conditions.

• Revenue Generation: Enables telecom operators to leverage unused AI computing capacity at the network edge, transforming base stations into hubs for AI-driven services.

What is the AI-RAN Alliance?

The AI-RAN Alliance, launched at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona in February 2024, is a collaboration among key technology leaders such as Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung Electronics, Microsoft, SoftBank Corp., and T-Mobile US. In February 2025, Tech Mahindra joined the alliance, bringing its telecom systems integration expertise. According to Alex Jinsung Choi, the chair of the alliance, more than 80 additional companies are expected to join, signaling the growing momentum behind AI-RAN.

Their collective mission is to redefine how mobile networks function by embedding AI directly into RAN architecture, ushering in a new era of smart, adaptive, and efficient connectivity.

The Growing Need for AI in Telecom

The telecom industry is under increasing pressure. While mobile data usage and 5G adoption are skyrocketing, the industry’s growth is relatively sluggish. According to the Global Telecom Outlook 2024–2028, total service revenue rose just 4.3% in 2023, reaching US$1.14 trillion, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of only 2.9% through 2028, below the global rate of inflation. Revenues will reach US$1.3 trillion by 2028, but telecom operators will need to find smarter ways to extract more value from this modest growth.

Meanwhile, AI-driven applications, 5G expansion, and real-time services like autonomous vehicles, telemedicine, and GenAI tools are demanding unprecedented levels of network performance, reliability, and responsiveness.

AI is being recognized as the key technology to bridge this gap.

Mission and Vision

According to Alex Jinsung Choi, the alliance is not merely about speeding up networks , it’s about enabling them to think, adapt, and evolve autonomously.

Unlike traditional standard-setting bodies like the 3GPP, the AI-RAN Alliance focuses on real-world deployment over specification. The aim is to build intelligent, self-managing networks that anticipate maintenance needs, optimize themselves, and support new service models at scale.

The Three Working Groups of AI-RAN Alliance

1. AI-for-RAN

It focuses on enhancing traditional RAN performance using AI.

• Network Efficiency: AI algorithms optimize spectrum and bandwidth use, reducing bottlenecks.

• Capacity Boost: AI dynamically adjusts to traffic spikes, especially in dense cities.

• Energy Efficiency: AI reduces power usage, a major concern given that energy remains one of the biggest operating costs for telecom companies.

Energy consumption is a growing concern. AI-powered automation can lower energy costs drastically, a critical win in an industry facing thin margins and high infrastructure costs.

2. AI-on-RAN

It focuses on running AI applications on RAN systems without degrading performance.

• Latency Management: Ensures low delays, critical for applications like remote surgery or AR.

• Security: Protects sensitive AI and user data as it flows across the network.

• Robustness: Maintains network reliability despite complex AI integration.

With GenAI tools surging in use, networks need to support high-compute workloads locally, which makes AI-on-RAN essential for future-readiness.

3. AI-and-RAN

It focuses on co-hosting AI and RAN functions on the same infrastructure.

• Revenue Diversification: Offers services like AI-driven analytics and ML as-a-service.

• Resource Optimization: Balances demands of network traffic and AI computation.

• CapEx Avoidance: Reduces the need for additional hardware by reusing existing base station infrastructure.

By 2028, an estimated US$200 billion in incremental revenue is up for grabs in telecom. AI-and-RAN models could allow telcos to tap into new income streams while keeping infrastructure costs under control.

Why AI-RAN Matters

The telecom sector stands at the precipice of a structural reconfiguration, driven by five long-term megatrends: how we move, build, make, fuel, and care. Each of these domains relies on connectivity, and telcos are the backbone.

As new ecosystems emerge, telecom operators must shift from being infrastructure providers to technology enablers. AI-RAN is the strategic leap that will help them do just that.

The AI-RAN Alliance is a strategic imperative in a stagnating industry that must evolve to survive. As the PwC Outlook predicts, over 70% of global mobile traffic will be AI-powered by 2025, making the case for AI-RAN integration more urgent than ever.

Through intelligent, energy-efficient, and revenue-generating innovations, AI-RAN is laying the groundwork for mobile networks that are as smart as the applications they power.