Ericsson’s R&D center in France is leading INTENTION-6G, a project worth more than €12 million over four years.  It’s backed by the France 2030 plan to embed AI into RAN control for energy efficiency and intent-based operation.  Partners include Orange, BubbleRAN and CentraleSupélec.

INTENTION 6G aims to optimize energy consumption of the Radio Access Network (RAN) while meeting 5G/6G traffic requirements. At the heart of the project is the integration of artificial intelligence into network control, particularly at RAN level, to improve both performance and energy efficiency. The project has now reached its mid development phase, enabling the first technology building blocks to be defined.

INTENTION 6G is based on a public private partnership approach that combines industrial, academic and entrepreneurial expertise. The project makes it possible to design, test and validate new solutions through demonstrators and experimental platforms, with a view to their gradual integration into tomorrow’s networks.

Several key areas structure the work: advanced automation of network functions, dynamic optimization of energy consumption, and the development of so called “intent based” networks, capable of automatically adjusting their performance to usage and needs thanks to artificial intelligence.

Christian Leon, Head of Ericsson Western Europe, says:

“Mobile networks are evolving to meet ever increasing requirements in terms of performance, energy efficiency and resource optimization. With INTENTION 6G, Ericsson France’s R&D center is actively contributing, alongside leading French partners, to laying today the foundations for the networks that will support tomorrow’s critical use cases and digital transformations.”

• • Intent-Based Networking (IBN): The project designs networks capable of automatically adjusting performance. Operators issue high-level business goals (intents) via language models, which the system automatically translates into exact technical configurations. 
  • Advanced Automation: AI takes over network control loops at the Radio Access Network (RAN) level. This shifts management from rigid, manual rules to real-time, zero-touch autonomous domain operations. 
  • Dynamic Energy Optimization: Mitigating the heavy carbon footprint of next-gen hardware is a priority. AI dynamically monitors traffic demands to initiate micro-sleep and scale down RAN energy use without dropping service quality. 
  • Standalone Native AI Architecture: It avoids complex legacy radio splitting by prioritizing a standalone architecture. AI components function pervasively across the edge-cloud continuum through a dedicated “AI interconnect”.

• Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC): Turning the network into a radar grid to track real-time physical environments. 
• Mass-Market Immersive Experiences: Assuring low-latency and continuous data throughput for holographic communications and mixed reality (XR). 
• Industry 5.0: Powering dynamic workgroup creation and traffic handling for mobile robot swarms, autonomous delivery drones, and smart factories.

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Building on its R&D center in France, opened in 2020, Ericsson says it’s leveraging its expertise in next generation network technologies. The teams involved are particularly specialized in 6G research, AI native networks, critical networks and cybersecurity. The center has already contributed to a portfolio of more than 180 patents in mobile technologies and is part of a strong ecosystem of academic and industrial partners in France.

By mobilizing its innovation capabilities and drawing on a rich and committed ecosystem, Ericsson is helping to prepare a new generation of networks that are smarter, more flexible and more sustainable.

References:

https://www.ericsson.com/en/press-releases/3/2026/intention-6g

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10942858/