Tech Mahindra Taps NVIDIA for AI in Telco
Tech Mahindra is collaborating with NVIDIA to build an AI-powered system for autonomous network operations. The partnership aims to help communication service providers (CSPs) manage complex 5G and future 6G networks more efficiently using advanced AI.
The collaboration leverages NVIDIA's AI Enterprise software and is built on AWS cloud infrastructure, creating a multi-modal large language model specifically for telecom network operations. This initiative is designed to evolve networks towards a state of "Self-Driving Networks," aiming for Level 4 autonomous capabilities. This partnership addresses critical challenges for Communication Service Providers (CSPs) as they deploy complex 5G and IoT networks. Manual incident resolution and inefficient field services lead to significant delays and high operational costs, issues that AI-driven operations are meant to solve. For one European CSP, Tech Mahindra's existing autonomous operations platform has already reduced ticket creation time by 30% and improved mean time to resolve incidents by over 50%. Manish Mangal, Tech Mahindra's Chief Technology Officer for Telecom, has stated that the shift to autonomous networks is now "imperative" for the industry. The goal is to move beyond a transactional approach to AI and embed it holistically within the network fabric for true operational efficiency. The move is part of a larger industry trend where AI is seen as essential for managing the complexities of 5G and future 6G networks, including challenges like spectrum scarcity and the need for ultra-low latency. NVIDIA's CEO, Jensen Huang, has called telecommunications the "next" industry to be redefined by AI as part of the largest infrastructure buildout in history. NVIDIA is heavily invested in this space, forming a global coalition with telecom leaders like T-Mobile, Nokia, and Ericsson to build 6G on open, AI-native platforms. The company is a founding member of the AI-RAN Alliance, which now includes over 130 companies focused on accelerating AI innovation in radio access networks. This is not the only collaboration between the two tech giants. Tech Mahindra and NVIDIA have also partnered on an educational Large Language Model program under "Project Indus," which focuses on providing AI-powered learning with authentic Indian linguistic and cultural context. They have also developed an AI-powered solution for the pharmaceutical industry to improve drug safety management.
