Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison (Indosat or IOH) announced on Wednesday, March 5, an initiative to deploy AI-driven Radio Access Network (AI-RAN) infrastructure across Indonesia in collaboration with Nokia and Nvidia. According to the company, this move makes Indosat the first operator in Southeast Asia and the third globally to implement commercial AI-RAN, integrating Nokia's 5G Cloud RAN and the Nvidia AI Aerial platform to enhance network efficiency and performance.
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Nokia and Nvidia’s Role in AI-RAN Deployment
The companies have signed an MoU to develop, test, and deploy AI-RAN solutions, initially focusing on AI inferencing workloads on Nvidia AI Aerial, followed by the integration of RAN workloads on the same platform. This will enable Indosat to optimise network performance, reduce energy consumption, and unlock new revenue streams through AI-powered services.
Software Driven 6G Upgrade
"By sharing infrastructure costs across multiple applications, Indosat can maximise its return on investment while unlocking new revenue streams through a wide range of AI-driven services. The deployment will achieve transformative gains in network performance, spectral efficiency, and energy consumption, setting the stage for a software-driven 6G upgrade," Indosat said on March 5.
Collaboration with Universities
As part of the initiative, Indosat, Nokia, and Nvidia will collaborate with leading Indonesian universities and research institutions to drive AI-RAN development. The partnership aims to accelerate breakthroughs in network optimisation, spectral efficiency, and energy management while providing students and researchers with hands-on experience in AI-driven networks.
Indonesia's National AI Strategy
Indosat said its AI-RAN deployment aligns with Indonesia's national AI strategy and supports its Sovereign AI Factory initiative, which fosters AI applications in healthcare, education, and agriculture.
The integration of Nvidia's AI Enterprise software platform and serverless APIs will enable Indosat's partners, inclusing Hippocratic.ai, Personal.ai, GoTo, and Accenture—to scale AI-driven services.
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Vikram Sinha, President Director and CEO of Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, said, "By embedding AI into our radio access network, we're not just enhancing connectivity—we're building a nationwide AI-powered ecosystem that will fuel innovation across industries. This aligns seamlessly with our mission to connect and empower every Indonesian."
Tommi Uitto, President of Mobile Networks at Nokia, commented: "Nokia is proud to work on this groundbreaking initiative with our partner, Indosat to deploy transformative AI-RAN infrastructure across Indonesia. When you combine AI with RAN, you create an engine for future innovation. With our 5G Cloud RAN platform, Indosat can transform its network into a multi-purpose computing grid that leverages the synergies of AI-accelerated computing. With our AI-powered products, we help Indosat augment RAN capabilities for enhanced performance, operational efficiency, advanced automation and optimized energy efficiency."
Ronnie Vasishta, SVP Telecoms at Nvidia, added, "AI-RAN has completely transformed the telecom industry. The combination of Indosat's vision for a nationwide AI grid and Nvidia AI expertise and full-stack software and hardware platform will catalyse AI adoption and innovation across Indonesia, creating a new playbook for telecom operators worldwide."
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Phased Deployment
The AI-RAN solution will enable Indosat to bring AI capabilities to every application, the company said, adding that the deployment will follow a phased approach, starting with a 5G AI-RAN lab in Surabaya in early 2025, followed by a small-scale commercial pilot in the second half of the year. A broader rollout is planned for 2026.
