Nokia struck a partnership with Indian university Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya (GSV) to explore R&D opportunities in transport and logistics using AI, 5G and future 6G technologies.

The vendor stated the agreement was signed in the presence of Ashwini Vaishnaw, India’s Minister of Railways, Communications, Electronics and IT, and the chancellor of the university.

GSV is India’s first university exclusively focused on transport-related education. Vaishnaw said the deal with Nokia has “very significant potential” to use progress made in the telecoms space to boost the transport and logistics sectors.

As part of the collaboration, Nokia and the university will study the potential deployment of 5G and 6G for communications targeting air, land and sea, alongside exploring network standards development and use cases in factory automation and AI laboratories.

Focus areas will cover the deployment of the vendor’s network-as-code platform and developer portal “to drive new innovations” and empower local developers and operators to design software apps for enterprises, industrial entities and general consumers.

Nokia expects this will aid network monetisation beyond basic connectivity.

There is also a plan to conduct research on digital twins, fibre sensing and AI, and optical network planning for transport and logistics.

Chief strategy and technology officer at Nokia Nishant Batra said it is “committed to supporting India’s ambitions as a global powerhouse for transportation innovation”, claiming 5G and 6G will be at the heart of this project.

Nokia opened a 6G laboratory in India in October 2023, in a mission to support the country’s working group Bharat 6G Alliance.