DOCOMO x NEC: AI Agents Automate 5G Core Construction

NTT DOCOMO and NEC Succeed in Automating 5G Core Network Construction with Agentic AI

NTT DOCOMO, INC. and NEC Corporation announced on March 2, 2026, the launch of Japan's first commercial 5G core network (5GC) on Amazon Web Services (AWS). In a landmark achievement, they have also introduced a world-first automation technology combining Agentic AI and GitOps in the construction process, successfully reducing the construction period by approximately 80% compared to conventional methods.

A New Era of AI-Driven Network Construction

The core of this announcement lies in the automation of the complex network design and construction process, which has traditionally been a manual task. The system, dubbed "Agentic AI," involves multiple AI agents, each with a specific role, working in concert to autonomously execute tasks toward a common goal. It is built upon Amazon Bedrock AgentCore and the Model Context Protocol (MCP), which enables secure and standardized communication between AI agents.

This system automates specialized tasks such as creating vast numbers of configuration files and designing complex parameters, thereby eliminating human error and significantly shortening the construction timeline. The adoption of GitOps methodology further enables end-to-end automation, from infrastructure configuration management to application deployment, ensuring a rapid and reliable network build-out.

Enhancing Flexibility and Reliability of Communications Infrastructure

This technological innovation holds the potential to bring about a major transformation in the telecommunications industry. By leveraging the AWS cloud platform, network resources can be scaled quickly and flexibly in response to sudden traffic surges, such as during large-scale events. During normal periods, resources can be scaled down to optimize cost efficiency. Furthermore, according to NEC's announcement, the use of AWS Graviton3 processors is expected to significantly reduce power consumption, marking an important step from a sustainability perspective.

This initiative dramatically improves the reliability and flexibility of communications infrastructure, building a robust foundation to support the coming AI era.

Future Outlook

DOCOMO and NEC plan to continue expanding the scope of AI utilization, aiming for the complete automation of network operations. This will further accelerate the speed of new service development and delivery, providing customers with higher quality and more stable communication services. This pioneering initiative is being showcased at MWC Barcelona 2026, currently held in Spain, where it is drawing significant attention from telecommunications carriers worldwide.