TM Forum, Huawei, and Industry Partners Jointly Release Autonomous Networks Levels Evaluation Whitepaper

At TM Forum’s Innovate Asia Summit hosted earlier this month in Bangkok, Thailand, TM Forum, Huawei, and industry partners released the Autonomous Networks Levels Evaluation Whitepaper and awarded certificates to the first group of operators to have completed an autonomous network level evaluation.

Autonomous Networks (AN) is a concept jointly proposed by TM Forum and industry partners in 2019, aiming to evolve network infrastructure and operations systems through automation and intelligence. To date, over 60 companies have signed the Autonomous Networks Manifesto, pledging to work towards Level 4 autonomy.

Autonomous Network Level (ANL) is used to comprehensively measure the automation and intelligence level of operators’ networks, ICT infrastructure, agile operations, and all-scenario services. ANL evaluation helps operators understand the current autonomy level of their networks, identify weaknesses in their AN capabilities, and analyze gaps between current and target levels. This insight allows operators to more effectively guide network and system planning, improve investment efficiency, and enhance their AN capabilities, so that they can ultimately increase efficiency and reduce operational costs. As such, ANL evaluation is crucial for operators undergoing systematic and large-scale transformations toward autonomous networks.

The ANL evaluation process involves selecting one or more evaluation objects and determining their level of autonomy, in terms of 3 dimensions: service scenario, network scenario, and operational flow. TM Forum has released several high-value AN scenarios for 2025 to 2027, along with a series of standards, rules, and methodologies for ANL evaluation based on the principles of operations value and technical feasibility.

During phase 1 of the ANL evaluation pilot, the focus was on fault management in the RAN domain, as well as fault management and stability planning in the core network domain. Phase 2 expanded to include new scenarios such as fault management and quality optimization in the IP network domain, as well as network changes in both RAN and core network domains.

At the summit, TM Forum awarded certificates to Indonesia’s IOH and Thailand’s AIS, recognizing them as the first operators to complete the ANL evaluation. For IOH, the evaluation focused on its high-stability core network planning and end-to-end automatic fault management. IOH received high praise for its continuous innovation and exceptional contributions in areas such as the high-stability core network architecture, telco cloud, regional disaster recovery, signaling storm flow control mechanisms, and predictive fault management.

The mobile AI era has arrived, bringing new opportunities and demands for communication networks. Huawei will collaborate with industry partners to empower intelligent networks, boost digital and intelligent network productivity, and support operators in their journey toward full intelligence.