Verizon to deploy Ericsson’s Intelligent Controller by year-end

Verizon’s latest move extends a relationship with Ericsson that has already included a pre-standard “6G” field call in the 7 GHz band in California and Ericsson powering Verizon Business international private 5G services. The nationwide EIC rollout is meant to support AI-native rApps that give the operator more control over open RAN environments, building on an already implemented connected-mode inter-radio access technology handover from 4G LTE to 5G standalone for fixed-wireless access devices.

The performance figures cited by Verizon VP Matt Butz — a near 9% downlink and up to an 8% uplink throughput improvement from AI-controlled massive MIMO and traffic steering — offer a concrete measure of what the operator says the automation has delivered so far. Verizon is also targeting level-four autonomy as defined by TM Forum, which involves intent-driven predictive analysis and closed-loop management via AI modelling.

Separately, Verizon CTO Yago Tenorio said earlier this year that the carrier was working toward specialized AI agents for complex network automation, and that early work had cut tasks that took hours down to 90 seconds. He said he wants that in production before the end of the year, starting with the radio and then expanding to transport and core, which suggests the EIC deployment and the agent work are related threads in Verizon’s broader network autonomy push.