MTN Huawei achieve world-first AN L4 IP certification to boost network automation

Thursday 13th November 2025

by inAfrika Newsroom

MTN Huawei collaboration reached a new milestone as the partners secured the first Autonomous Network Level-4 certification for an IP network, the companies said. The validation, issued under the industry’s autonomous-network benchmark, marks a step toward self-optimizing transport with fewer outages and faster restoration.

Because African networks face power and terrain constraints, higher automation matters. MTN Huawei tools now use digital maps, telemetry and intent-based policies to spot anomalies and fix routing before users notice. As a result, mean-time-to-repair falls, while energy-aware scheduling can cut diesel spend at sites that still rely on generators.

Technically, AN L4 denotes closed-loop control across planning, provisioning, assurance and optimization. Therefore, the stack can translate business intent—like latency targets for mobile-money traffic—into network changes without manual tickets. Engineers still supervise, but the system executes routine tasks at machine speed. In busy corridors, that shift unlocks capacity without new hardware.

MTN Huawei automation also supports 5G backhaul and edge services. With stable SLAs, operators can push low-latency apps such as payments, gaming and telemedicine deeper into the network. Moreover, enterprise customers get faster turn-ups for VPNs and slicing, which improves time-to-revenue on cloud and IoT projects.

However, certification is just the start. Carriers must retrain teams, rewrite playbooks and update incident-response roles. In addition, auditors will test security controls that guard policy engines from misuse. Because automation can amplify errors, robust guardrails remain essential.

Vendors hope the milestone will spur broader adoption. If peers replicate the approach, Africa’s backbone networks could reduce faults and recover quicker from fiber cuts and power dips. Ultimately, users should see steadier speeds and fewer call drops during peaks.

MTN Huawei achievements typically roll into multi-market programs after pilots harden. Therefore, expect new dashboards, intent libraries and energy-savings modules to appear in other operations next. As the tools spread, operators can scale service quality without proportionate increases in opex.