One New Zealand is expanding its strategic partnership with Nokia to deploy AI-native network assurance, operational data management and automation capabilities, advancing the operator’s transformation toward TM Forum Level 3 and Level 4 autonomous networks. The agreement adds Nokia Assurance Center and Autonomous Networks Data Suite to the operator’s network operations environment to support predictive monitoring, faster operational decisions and corrective actions before service disruptions affect customers.

The deployment builds on One New Zealand’s investments in Nokia Unified Inventory and Nokia Orchestration Center in 2025. Unified Inventory provides a common view of network resources and relationships, while orchestration coordinates operational workflows. The new assurance and data components will support network monitoring, operational intelligence and automation decisions. Nokia will also provide R&D co-creation and consulting services as part of the expanded partnership.

The agreement incorporates Nokia’s “glass-box” approach to autonomous networking, emphasizing transparency into how network decisions are made, why automated actions are initiated and how those actions are governed. Open interfaces and on-premises deployment options will give One New Zealand flexibility to develop new AI and automation use cases while retaining sovereignty over its operational data, AI models and network environment. Neither contract value nor implementation schedule was disclosed.

“Building greater autonomy into our network is a journey, and this agreement represents the next step in the transformation we have already started. By building on the capabilities already in place, we are creating a stronger foundation for predictive, data-driven operations and progressively expanding how we use AI and automation to improve network performance and the experience we deliver for our customers.”

— Sharina Nisha, CTO at One New Zealand

Analysis

The agreement extends One New Zealand’s operational stack from inventory and orchestration into assurance and a common network data layer. Inventory models physical and logical resources and their service relationships; orchestration coordinates network changes; assurance analyzes performance and faults; and data platforms supply information for analytics and closed-loop decisions. Integrating these functions can support the cycle of detecting conditions, choosing a response and implementing a governed action.

TM Forum Level 3 generally describes conditional autonomy for defined scenarios, with human participation under specified circumstances. Level 4 describes more extensive autonomy across operational scenarios. Installing AI-enabled products does not itself establish an operator’s achieved autonomy level; the announcement provides neither assessment results nor a date for reaching either target.

Nokia’s glass-box approach emphasizes traceability of decisions, operational guardrails and visibility into automated actions. One New Zealand also identifies open interfaces and on-premises options as ways to preserve control over data, models and its operating environment. These capabilities matter as assurance platforms and orchestration systems exchange data and act on one another’s findings.

Nokia’s other 2026 collaborations, including Google Cloud agents for assurance and its AWS autonomous-network work, show related development of its software portfolio. However, Nokia did not state that One New Zealand will use those cloud integrations. Future measurable milestones include the network domains automated, use cases placed into production, incident resolution improvements and verified autonomy assessments; none was quantified in this announcement.

Related Video | Nokia’s Roadmap to Autonomous Networks

In the NextGenInfra.io #AINetworking26 video interview, Mike Thompson, VP, Head of Network Automation Product Management at Nokia, discusses unified network data, AI agents, MCP and A2A interfaces, governance and progressing toward Level 3/4 operations. The discussion provides architectural context, but does not describe One New Zealand’s deployment.

Watch: Nokia: Agentic AI for Network Operations — Director’s Cut.

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