D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NASDAQ: QBTS) and NTT DOCOMO have deployed a second quantum computing application in production, delivering major improvements to mobile network operations in Japan.
The new application reduces location registration signals generated when devices cross tracking area list boundaries by 65.3% at the daily peak, while also cutting paging signals by 7.0%.
NTT DOCOMO is Japan’s largest mobile operator, serving more than 93 million subscriptions, making this deployment one of the most significant real-world quantum computing implementations in the telecom sector.
D-Wave describes itself as the only dual-platform quantum computing company offering both annealing and gate-model systems, software, and services to commercial and government customers.
Tracking area lists group geographic areas within a mobile network and must be carefully optimized to reduce signaling load while maintaining overall network performance and connectivity.
The application addresses a particularly difficult engineering challenge because location registration and paging signals typically move in opposite directions, requiring a careful balance between the two competing demands.
In a representative test spanning 333 base stations, three TA-Lists, and nine tracking areas, the application completed its optimization work in approximately five minutes, with results fed directly into DOCOMO’s network planning and operations.
“DOCOMO is showing telecom operators around the world what production quantum adoption looks like: move beyond a single use case and apply the technology to distinct, increasingly complex operational challenges,” said Dr. Alan Baratz, CEO of D-Wave.
Hiroshi Kawakami, Senior Manager of Data Platform Department at NTT DOCOMO, said, “The application balances two competing network requirements, significantly reducing location registration signaling while also lowering paging signals.”
Kawakami added, “Together with our first production application, it demonstrates how quantum computing can help us address multiple aspects of network optimization and use our infrastructure more efficiently.”
This second deployment expands on DOCOMO’s first D-Wave-powered application, which focused on reducing paging signals within individual tracking areas rather than across multiple tracking areas simultaneously.
D-Wave’s hybrid quantum technology is accessible through its Leap quantum cloud service, which the company says offers 99.9% availability and uptime for enterprise-grade workloads.
More than 100 organizations across commercial, government, and research sectors currently use D-Wave systems to tackle complex computational problems that challenge conventional computing approaches.
