5G Americas Publishes White Paper Advancing AI-Driven, Self-Managing Networks

5G Americas announced the publication of its latest white paper, Enabling Intent-Based Autonomous Networks, which explores how telecom operators can harness AI-driven, self-configuring, and self-healing systems to meet the rising complexity of 5G, AI, IoT, and cloud-native services. This report highlights the technologies, standards, and strategies that enable Intent-Based Autonomous Networks to deliver scalable, resilient, and customer-centric connectivity.

“Intent-Based Autonomous Networks represent a critical step forward in making telecom infrastructure adaptive, efficient, and aligned with business outcomes,” said Viet Nguyen, President of 5G Americas. “By embracing AI, open standards, and phased adoption, the industry can achieve sustainable efficiency, deliver superior customer experiences, and create new opportunities for innovation.”

The white paper highlights several key advancements enabling autonomous networking:

• Intent-Driven Automation: High-level business goals are translated into dynamic, real-time network behavior, enabling adaptive, self-configuring, and self-healing operations.
• AI, Open APIs & Observability: AI/ML, Generative AI, and Agentic AI power closed-loop operations and predictive optimization; open APIs ensure multi-vendor interoperability; observability frameworks provide real-time visibility, trust, and security.
• Business Outcomes: Closed-loop automation, energy optimization, and predictive assurance reduce churn, improve SLA management, and deliver cost savings through greater agility and efficiency.
• Standards & Ecosystem Collaboration: TM Forum, O-RAN Alliance, and 3GPP are advancing frameworks for scalable intent-based adoption, while vendors embed these capabilities into OSS/BSS, RAN, and orchestration platforms.
• North American Leadership: Regional operators are focusing on customer experience, energy optimization, and fault management, positioning North America as a benchmark for global best practices.

“Intent-based autonomous networks are unlocking real, measurable benefits for operators—ranging from improved customer experience to more agile and efficient operations,” said Niti Bhatt, Director, Strategy and Technology at Ericsson Americas, white paper working group leader. “Leveraging intent-based models and AI-driven closed-loop systems, we are laying the groundwork for intelligent networks that dynamically adapt to evolving demands and seamlessly scale to meet the challenges of the 6G era.”

The paper also outlines a phased roadmap for implementation, emphasizing governance, automation-ready infrastructure, and cross-domain orchestration as practical steps toward maturity. It stresses that collaboration, trust, and industry alignment will be vital to overcoming challenges like legacy systems, data silos, and security risks.