Ericsson recently unveiled a wide range of products and updates set to be showcased at MWC Barcelona 2026. At this recent pre-event session they highlighted a strong AI-led approach to network building and optimisation.
The company’s executives asserted it is introducing an AI-first approach to building networks with fresh hardware, software and platform offerings providing apparent benefits of improved uplink, total cost of ownership and energy efficiency.
Ericsson CTO Erik Ekudden emphasised the vendor’s strategy is to “be the provider of the best networks for and with AI”, as he explained there is a need to support changing network demands driven by emerging applications.
The move from “generative AI, to agentic AI flows, to physical AI is happening perhaps faster than people anticipated a year or two ago”, he said. “But AI will not reach its full potential unless you combine it with advanced connectivity and compute and cloud infrastructure”.
Discussing the evolution to 6G and AI-native networks, Ekudden added there is “no need to wait for 6G when it comes to AI. AI is here, both in the network and as a business opportunity”. He added the company would provide a “smooth upgrade over the coming years as technology matures and we can make the upgrade to new spectrum”.
Radio range
Supporting the vendor’s argument around meeting AI network demands, Ericsson unveiled its fresh hardware and software range. Among these are Ericsson radios badged as AI-ready, using its own silicon with neural network accelerators.
The company added its range can boost “on‑site AI inference capabilities in massive MIMO radios, enabling real‑time optimisation and full stack, fully distributed AI”.
It launched ten radios, five antennas and RAN software. The latter provides functions intended to boost efficiency while handling AI application demands. Ericsson emphasised radio upgrades “integrate AI more deeply into the RAN” and would be showcased on its stand at MWC.
rAPP-up
Another new offering set to be showcased is Ericsson’s Agentic rApp-as-a-service system built on AWS infrastructure, which is intended to aid operator network automation.
The vendor highlighted the product is designed to “revamp the network optimisation process using agentic AI for reasoning and coordination of the optimisation workflow”.
It also uses generative AI for a natural language interface so operator staff can essentially talk to the network and provide instructions. The company noted field testing of rApp-as-a-service is underway with leading communications service providers across the globe, citing Vivo in Brazil as an example.
Source: Mobile World Live
Image Credit: Ericsson
