Nokia Oyj (NYSE: NOK) announced on Thursday an expanded collaboration with Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT), aiming to merge their respective telecom data and analytics platforms to enable network automation across multi-vendor environments. This cross-vendor, cross-domain solution combines Nokia Data Suite with Microsoft Fabric, with initial use cases covering Voice over New Radio (VoNR) automated assurance, radio access network (RAN) optimization, and predictive maintenance. The offering is commercially available now, with additional autonomous network deployments slated for the future. Following the news, Nokia's stock advanced roughly 5% in pre-market trading on Thursday.
Nokia Data Suite delivers ready-to-use telecom data products featuring a "glass box" approach to data quality controls and telecom-specific semantic modeling, ensuring explainable AI decision-making. Meanwhile, Microsoft Fabric provides a unified data platform with OneLake storage, analytics tools, and AI-native applications such as Microsoft 365 Copilot, Foundry, and Power BI. According to Nokia, the integration enables operators to access trusted data within minutes rather than weeks, dramatically shortening the time required to prepare network data for AI applications.
Starting with RAN and fault management, the combined solution allows AI agents to execute automated root cause analysis and closed-loop operations on the network while maintaining human oversight. Designed for multi-vendor, cross-domain settings, the offering supports public cloud, hybrid cloud, and on-premises deployments, helping operators meet various regulatory requirements while advancing automation. Telecom data from Nokia can also be integrated with enterprise, IT, and third-party data within Microsoft Fabric.
The initial rollout focuses on three key scenarios. First is autonomous VoNR assurance, where AI agents detect service issues, analyze causes, and provide remediation recommendations. Second is geo-experience analysis, using AI to identify users experiencing poor wireless performance and uncover coverage and capacity hotspots, catering to both network slice users and standard 4G and 5G subscribers. Third is predictive maintenance and fault management, where agents leverage historical and real-time data to identify problems before they impact customers. Additionally, an AI operations assistant serves as a copilot for network engineers, offering contextual insights, action recommendations, and automated workflow execution.
Vivek Jaiswal, Senior Vice President of Autonomous Networks at Nokia, stated that the partnership is helping telecom networks evolve from static infrastructure into "programmable, AI-native platforms," delivering the right data at the right time to global operators. Silvia Candiani, Microsoft's Vice President for Global Telecom and Media, noted that operators are ready to move AI from trials to everyday network operations, which requires trusted data, robust governance, and scalable platforms.