Autonomous networks

As the AI supercycle unfolds, the increasing scale and diversity of workloads from generative and agentic AI to physical AI accelerate the operational complexity of networks. The big disruption is qualitative. AI workloads are bursty, latency- and jitter-sensitive and throughput-hungry, both in uplink and downlink. They are distributed across data centers, metro networks, the network edge and enterprise sites.

To stay ahead, you must evolve your networks from static infrastructures to programmable, AI‑native platforms. Your network needs to anticipate changing traffic mixes and operate at machine speed to connect intelligence. It must be optimized by AI so that every part operates in perfect harmony to deliver deterministic performance, enabling you to capture new value streams in the AI era.

921 EB

AI traffic is growing rapidly. Nokia’s global wide-area network (WAN) forecast projects AI traffic reaching 921 exabytes per month by 2034, growing at an annual rate of 23% and accounting for around 30% of total global WAN traffic.

21%

Progress toward autonomy. A TM Forum survey of 80 telecommunication providers shows progress towards fully autonomous networks, with 21% of respondents already operating at level 3 autonomy or above.

~$800M

Unlocking new revenue. Autonomous networks offer telecommunication providers around $800 million in combined cost savings and annual revenue uplift, or roughly 5% of overall revenues.

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about Nokia autonomous networks

What are autonomous networks?

Autonomous networks are trusted by leading telecommunication providers to optimize and orchestrate their networks. Autonomous networks act as one and deliver AI inference without delay. They operate at machine speed, adapting to dynamic network conditions and evolving at software speed. For example, Nokia’s autonomous software solutions perform 15,000 autonomous actions per hour in a customer’s live network.

What is level 4 autonomy?

What is deterministic connectivity?

Why deploy autonomous networks?