Advancing toward Level 4 Autonomous Networks

TM Forum: We hear a lot about autonomous networks and particularly about achieving full autonomy. This shift is challenging, so why are communication service providers (CSPs) so keen to advance automation levels?

RB: Absolutely, we hear similar commitments among our customers and other industry players. In fact, around 80% of our customers intend to reach higher levels of network automation with some aiming for fully autonomous networks by 2030. A few are even targeting these advanced levels of autonomy as early as 2028. This is based on our ongoing conversations, as well as the work we’ve done with TM Forum to help benchmark CSPs’ adoption of Autonomous Networks.

CSPs are motivated by the need to transform the customer experience they deliver. They want to do this by resolving issues faster and delivering personalized services quickly and efficiently. Agility and faster monetization are also important goals for our customers. So, although today’s networking environment is complex, CSPs are committed to accelerating the move toward higher levels of secure, AI-driven automation to meet these goals, both for customers and their own operations.

TM Forum: How is Nokia evolving its portfolio to meet customers’ needs?

RB: Today, customers are structured into departments like network operations, subscriber experience and security, and our portfolio has traditionally aligned with that structure.
But to support and deliver autonomous networks, we need to treat the network as a unified system. Many are familiar with our Sense, Think, Act approach to autonomous networks, in which we build on TM Forum’s network maturity model to automate across radio, transport, core and cloud domains, with security woven through every layer of the network.

We’ve taken a purposeful step forward in our strategy; we’re evolving our Cloud and Network Services (CNS) applications around a unified foundation – the Autonomous Network Fabric. This common, unified layer acts as a single source of secure automation and trusted data to power every application across the portfolio with consistency, intelligence, and scale. This eliminates redundant data collection and unlocks powerful cross-domain use cases.

To offer additional context, artificial intelligence (AI) is a critical enabler of this common fabric. Beyond machine learning techniques like anomaly detection, we’re now applying large language models (LLMs) to correlate incidents across domains to link, for example, a subscriber issue, a network fault and a security event automatically, without needing predefined rules.

We’re also building AI agents that will autonomously test corrective actions and monitor whether they've solved the underlying problem or need to try a new strategy. Our ultimate goal is an intent-driven portfolio: customers describe the outcome they want, and the system takes the necessary cross-domain actions to deliver it. This will accelerate agility, improve the customer experience, and help operators better monetize their networks. All the goals we mentioned at the top of the interview.

TM Forum: What can we expect from Nokia at DTW Ignite?

RB: At DTW25, we’ll be showcasing how we're bringing this vision to life through several demonstrations in the following areas.

To advance autonomous networks levels, our dedicated, live demo will show how Nokia’s Autonomous Network Fabric helps CSPs cross the chasm from Level 3 to Level 4/5 network automation.

Regarding AI-driven service orchestration and assurance, we’ll showcase how our Digital Operations software accelerates the path to autonomous networks, unlocking financial benefits for CSPs. This demo highlights advancements in knowledge graphs, digital twins and GenAI to boost orchestration, assurance and readiness to monetize.

The data observability to AI innovation demo shows how the Nokia Data Suite enables CSPs to build and scale AI and GenAI use cases by delivering high-quality network and subscriber data. It also highlights our AI apps with an integrated GenAI assistant that help optimize customers’ experience, laying the data foundation for autonomous networks.

All the demonstrations will emphasize real-world use cases, where data and AI are deeply integrated to enable the autonomous networks that our customers are striving for.

In addition to the demos, we’ll have an impressive line-up of thought leaders from Nokia featured across panel discussions and customers’ presentations. And the highlight will be our President and TM Forum Board Member, Raghav Sahgal, taking the stage for one of the most eagerly awaited keynotes on this year’s agenda, Real-World Wins Towards Autonomous Networks.

TM Forum: What is in store in the second half of the year, building on your activities at DTW?

RB: Helping CSPs advance autonomous networks levels is a major priority for Nokia. We’re excited to demonstrate our progress at DTW25 and will continue to deliver networks that sense, think and act to help operators transform faster, operate smarter, and deliver exceptional experiences.