Summary

  • DOCOMO says newer Nokia baseband equipment entered commercial operation with multiple vendors' radios on September 9, using Levante and Ponente processing cards.
  • The result establishes an operating configuration, not universal interchangeability, measured network-wide savings or completion of the companies' Cloud RAN plans.

A radio can comply with an open specification and still require work before an operator is prepared to carry customers' traffic through it. NTT DOCOMO's September 11 announcement marks that distinction: it says commercial operation of newer Nokia base-station equipment connected to radios from multiple vendors began on September 9.

The equipment contains Levante for data processing and Ponente for control processing. Both are Nokia baseband-card names, not the identities of the radio suppliers. DOCOMO describes the configuration as compliant with O-RAN ALLIANCE specifications. Its claim to a world first is narrower than a first for Open RAN: it concerns commercial multivendor operation of this Nokia equipment, according to DOCOMO's own research as of September 9.

Product availability is not operator acceptance

The cards are not newly invented products. Nokia announced Levante and Ponente in June 2023, describing AirScale compatibility with its own and third-party radios and scheduling commercial shipments for the first half of 2024. That old timetable does not prove when DOCOMO received equipment. It does help identify what is new now: an operator's reported commercial configuration, rather than another product introduction.

The current equipment supports LTE and 5G. DOCOMO expects it to accommodate more radios and consume less power than earlier Nokia equipment. It does not publish a measured saving, deployment count or order value. Historic Nokia percentage comparisons should therefore not be transferred into an estimate for this Japanese network.

A choice of radio shapes can become a choice of suppliers

DOCOMO says it has already combined O-RAN-compliant equipment to match coverage and demand. Its examples distinguish high-output radios suited to wider coverage from compact units for constrained urban locations or concentrated event traffic. A common processing platform that accepts different radio forms can make those site decisions less dependent on a single radio catalogue.

But an interface specification is not a standing guarantee that every product and software release will work together. The announcement does not provide a full list of accepted radio vendors and versions, nor the commercial terms for resolving faults between suppliers. Those omissions limit how far the successful configuration can be treated as immediately transferable procurement freedom.

The next test is repeatability: can an accepted combination stay usable as radios, baseband software and operational tools change? This is an analytical question raised by the deployment, not a disclosed problem in DOCOMO's network.

Three operating layers, three different claims

DOCOMO already reported in November 2025 that Nokia MantaRay SON was automating coordination between its multivendor LTE network and Nokia 5G equipment. That account concerned detecting LTE changes, deciding on corresponding settings and executing them through the 5G management system. It was not a blanket certification of all radio/baseband pairings.

The new announcement also discloses an August 12 memorandum with Nokia covering future Cloud RAN development, automation and autonomous-network milestones. An agreement to pursue those functions is not evidence that this commercial installation is a completed virtualised or autonomous network.

The September 11 release planned a mobile-base-station deployment at the September 12 Joso Kinugawa fireworks event, combined with Nokia Dual Boost optimisation. That is a pre-event plan, not a post-event performance report. Wider deployment to busy urban areas, stadiums and event venues is also an intention, not a completed national replacement.

What has become more concrete is the option to operate different radios behind a Nokia processing platform. Its lasting commercial value will depend on how many combinations remain accepted, supportable and economical after the first installation.

Sources

DOCOMO: September 11 commercial-operation announcement

Nokia: June 2023 AirScale product announcement

DOCOMO: November 2025 MantaRay SON deployment