Ericsson expanded its network equipment partnership with Japan's SoftBank that is focused on expanding the reach of the operator's 5G standalone (SA) network and its AI capabilities.

Ericsson will provide the Japanese carrier with radio access network (RAN) products, including massive multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) integrated radios. These include the open RAN-ready AIR 3255 and AIR 6476 models, touted by Ericsson for their energy efficiency.

The deal covers upgrades in Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Hokuriku, Tokai, and parts of Kansai, spanning low-, mid-, and high-band spectrum.

Ericsson CEO Börje Ekholm admitted during the vendor's most recent earnings call that it was not yet seeing “big revenues” from 5G SA, but added interest was growing, driving the need for more radio, mid-band, and core services from the firm.

AI for automation

Ericsson is also supplying its RAN Compute boards to support SoftBank's AI-driven automation and operational efficiency plans. This includes use of Ericsson's latest generation RAN Compute chips that power its RAN equipment.

The chips were designed with Intel and support AI-enhanced network functions such as intelligent automation, real-time traffic prediction, dynamic spectrum optimization, and AI-driven carrier aggregation.

The latest deal is an expansion of Ericsson’s long-standing 5G work with SoftBank, which selected the European giant alongside Nokia as primary 5G RAN vendors in 2019. Ericsson was later tapped to deliver SoftBank’s cloud-native, dual-mode 5G core, enabling both non‑standalone (NSA) 5G and 5G SA operations.

SoftBank did recently carry out a "6G" trial with Nokia, but the carrier also recently signed a partnership with Ericsson on 6G and AI technologies.