Nokia adds agentic AI agents to autonomous networks portfolio at DTW26

Nokia has rolled out a suite of agentic AI upgrades to its autonomous networks portfolio, unveiled at the DTW industry conference in Copenhagen on 23 June 2026. The Finnish network equipment maker says the new capabilities are designed to help telecom operators simplify day-to-day operations, handle increasingly AI-driven traffic loads, and move toward higher levels of network autonomy without sacrificing operational oversight.

The centrepiece of the announcement is a new Autonomous Networks Agent Library: a collection of pre-built AI agents covering security, assurance, and service operations. Nokia says these agents incorporate what it describes as "glass box autonomy," a design principle intended to keep human operators informed of and in control over automated decisions in live network environments. Use cases cited include identifying zero-day security events, root-cause analysis for network anomalies, and troubleshooting service order failures. Nokia claims productivity gains of 60 to 80% compared with traditional manual operations, though the release does not specify the methodology or customer deployments behind that figure.

Portfolio detail

Beyond the Agent Library, Nokia refreshed its Autonomous Networks Suite with on-premise deployment options, improved VoLTE service quality monitoring, and enhanced subscriber experience tooling for radio access networks. Its MantaRay SMO product, aligned with Open RAN standards, gains Non-Real-Time RIC functionality and AI-enabled rApps for anomaly detection and dynamic network slicing. Nokia named NTT DOCOMO as a partner advancing SMO-driven autonomy trials.

Agentic AI capabilities also extend across Nokia's IP, fixed, and optical domains. In fixed broadband, the company says its Altiplano, Corteca, and Broadband Easy platforms can now lift first-contact helpdesk resolution rates above 50% and cut return visits to customer premises by half. On the optical side, a new WaveSuite agentic framework adds proactive KPI anomaly detection and photonic equipment failure prediction before service impact occurs.

Pallavi Mahajan, Nokia's Chief Technology and AI Officer, said: "As networks evolve from static infrastructure into programmable, AI-native platforms, there's growing pressure to manage unpredictable traffic patterns driven by AI-intensive workloads."

Market context

Autonomous network operations is a crowded and rapidly maturing segment. Ericsson, Huawei, and a growing cohort of software-native vendors including Amdocs, Netcracker, and various AI-ops startups are all pursuing the same opportunity: replacing labour-intensive network operations centre workflows with machine-speed automation. Telecom operators are under sustained pressure to reduce operating expenditure as capital requirements for 5G densification and fibre rollout remain high, making the productivity claims attached to agentic AI a commercially significant pitch rather than a purely technical one.

Open RAN continues to act as a structural shift in the competitive landscape. Nokia's MantaRay SMO alignment with O-RAN Alliance specifications matters because it positions the company as a multi-vendor integrator rather than a closed-stack incumbent, potentially opening doors with operators that are actively de-risking single-vendor dependencies. The DTW forum, hosted by TM Forum, is the primary venue where these vendor-operator deals are shaped, giving the timing of this announcement strategic weight beyond the product specifics.

Standards and regulatory read-across

Nokia's emphasis on governance, observability, and "controlled autonomy" is consistent with emerging expectations from regulators. The EU AI Act classifies certain network management applications as high-risk AI systems, which would require conformity assessments, logging, and human oversight mechanisms. Nokia's "glass box" framing appears designed to address precisely those compliance requirements, though the company has not published a formal EU AI Act conformity statement in this release. Operators deploying these capabilities in European markets will need to establish clear audit trails for automated network decisions as the Act's obligations phase in from 2026 onwards.

Nokia's autonomous networks ambitions will ultimately be measured by named commercial deployments and independently verified performance data. The NTT DOCOMO partnership is a credible signal of operator-level engagement, but the broader market will await case studies with quantified outcomes before the productivity figures cited in this release carry full evidential weight.