Ericsson, SoftBank team to seek out 6G, XR, AI potential

The arrival of 6G mobile infrastructures has long been regarded as a question of when at the end of the decade it arrives, rather than what form they will actually take and what they will offer, but the next generation of mobile is a key part of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between SoftBank and Ericsson that will establish a strategic partnership to seek out the key innovative technologies for 2030 and beyond.

Through their initiative, SoftBank and Ericsson said they would be committing to addressing the diverse and evolving needs of consumers and enterprises for high-performing, secure and reliable connectivity. By using artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud-based networks, they aim to drive “significant advances” in connectivity that will play a critical role in the digital transformation of society.

In practice, the collaboration focuses on evaluating, promoting and co-creating what is being called NextWave Tech, which encompasses advancing technologies to the next stage, including AI, cloud radio access network (RAN), extended reality (XR) and 6G. The partnership seeks to explore new use cases, and drive technological advancements that will shape the future of cellular networks and its architectures.

The two companies said that as the industry presents “exciting” opportunities with NextWave Tech, they were committed to actively investing in bringing such new technologies to life. They added that these efforts promised future growth and cost-efficiency, helping the whole industry to “seize new opportunities”.

To achieve this, the companies confirmed they would jointly work on blueprinting the roadmaps towards future networks, ensuring all collaborative efforts aligned with their long-term vision and paved the way for industry leadership.

Moreover, SoftBank and Ericsson said they would further deepen and broaden their collaboration in the development of technologies and businesses across the following key areas: evaluating commercial readiness for Cloud RAN deployment with SMO/rApps, including integration of AI technology; establishing efficient and effective network design strategies for emerging use cases such as XR; exploring new ways of using radio wave by integrating sensing and communication; and promoting the effective use of centimetre Wave technologies to position Japan as a leader in 6G.

“This new collaboration with SoftBank marks a significant step forward in realising the full potential of AI-powered connectivity technologies,” said Jawad Manssour, president and representative director at Ericsson Japan. “By combining our expertise in RAN and AI, we are poised to drive innovation and shape SoftBank’s future of mobile networks, empowering their technology leadership through 2030.”

SoftBank Corp executive vice-president and chief technology officer Hideyuki Tsukuda added: “Our new partnership with Ericsson allows us to explore cutting-edge solutions that will redefine network capabilities and customer experience. Our joint efforts in areas such as 6G and AI will not only enhance the performance of our network, but also pave the way for new business opportunities and technological breakthroughs.”

The MoU builds on a partnership announced by Ericsson and SoftBank in October 2024 to explore converged architectures for AI-based RANs as part of work looking to enhance their existing efforts in optimising and boosting network efficiency and performance.

As part of their project, Ericsson and SoftBank said they would explore common network and compute infrastructure services that allow both AI and RAN to operate on the same network infrastructure, with the ultimate aim being the ability to unlock new use cases for communications service providers by using the power of AI to enhance network efficiency.