This week’s 5G news is dominated by a pair of converging signals: the money is flowing into 5G Standalone infrastructure at a pace that few predicted, and the strategic choices that operators and vendors make right now, on AI-RAN architecture, on supply chain security, and on where to deploy private networks, are setting the competitive agenda for years to come. From a landmark European court ruling on vendor security bans to Siemens quietly embedding private 5G into industrial automation, the industry is moving from proof-of-concept into commercial delivery, with real consequences for those who get it wrong.
The numbers from Omdia’s latest Core Market Tracker are striking. Communications service providers increased their 5G packet core investments by 83% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2025, with North America and EMEA leading the charge. The figure reflects a genuine step-change in operator commitment to 5G Standalone, with 88 operators now running live 5G SA networks globally. Omdia expects strong double-digit core investment growth to continue through 2026, underpinned by the commercial opportunity in network slicing, ultra-reliable low-latency communications, and enterprise services. The top five vendors by core market share, Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia, ZTE and Cisco, are all benefiting, though competitive dynamics within that group remain intense.
In the UK, O2 has extended its 5G SA footprint significantly, switching on 5G+ coverage across 66 large towns and cities, 175 smaller towns and 1,120 villages throughout Scotland, reaching more than four million residents across 20 counties. The operator claims the largest 5G Standalone network in the UK and has supplemented its terrestrial rollout with the launch of O2 Satellite, targeting the long-standing connectivity gaps affecting rural and island communities. T-Mobile, meanwhile, offered a useful strategic framing at MWC 2026: the transition from 5G SA to 6G is a progression, not a revolution. T-Mobile was the world’s first operator to deploy a pure 5G SA network in 2020, subsequently launching 5G-Advanced nationwide. The operator is also deploying AI-driven network optimisation tools that made close to 30,000 automated changes over three days during Winter Storm Fern, rebalancing coverage as cell sites went offline.
The two leading western RAN vendors are taking sharply different approaches to AI-native radio access networks, and the gap is widening. Nokia has anchored its entire 5G and 6G RAN strategy to Nvidia, building its Layer 1 RAN to run on Nvidia’s CUDA platform and GPUs, a direction cemented by Nvidia’s $1 billion investment in the Finnish vendor. Ericsson, by contrast, is actively resisting any dependence on a single chipmaker, engineering its software to run across multiple CPU architectures with minimal modification and preserving its own silicon independence. The divergence is not merely technical; it reflects fundamentally different bets on how AI processing will evolve in the network edge, and operators evaluating RAN refresh strategies will need to weigh vendor lock-in risk against potential performance gains.
In Asia, SK Telecom and Ericsson have formalised a long-term collaboration on 5G and 6G technologies, establishing a joint R&D framework running through to 2031. Their agreement covers AI-powered RAN, open and autonomous networks, end-to-end security, 6G standardisation and integrated sensing and communication. Separately, SoftBank and AGC have demonstrated a simplified base station antenna configuration that reduces power consumption for future 6G networks by up to seven-eighths, an early but significant signal of the energy efficiency agenda that will shape 6G design.
A significant legal milestone emerged this week from the European Court of Justice, where Advocate General Tamara Capeta issued a preliminary opinion confirming that EU member states may lawfully exclude hardware and software vendors from telecoms infrastructure on national security grounds. The case was brought by Elisa Eesti following the Estonian government’s rejection of its 2022 request to use Huawei equipment in its mobile network. Critically, the opinion sets a condition: each exclusion decision must be based on a specific risk assessment for that instance, rather than a blanket suspicion. The ruling provides important legal clarity for governments across Europe that have already issued, or are considering, Huawei and ZTE bans.
BT’s CTO Greg McCall offered a timely operational perspective, confirming that BT has now completed the removal of Huawei from its 5G radio access network. McCall stated that both Ericsson and Nokia have “absolutely raised their game” in filling the gap, and that BT’s network is performing on a par with European counterparts that still have Huawei equipment in place. Ericsson now covers BT’s core, and the RAN is split equally between Ericsson and Nokia. Huawei retains only a “very small” portion of BT’s legacy 4G footprint. Meanwhile, Ericsson’s Smart Factory in Lewisville, Texas, received a visit from US Under Secretary for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg, a signal of continued US government interest in securing domestic 5G manufacturing capability.
Dubai-based operator du has signed an MoU with Huawei to advance the second phase of its 5G-Advanced development, targeting peak speeds of up to 10Gbps through the integration of U6G technology with existing TDD carrier aggregation capabilities. The rollout will extend high-speed connectivity to dense indoor environments, including shopping malls, hotels and airports, and incorporates AI-driven network management to improve spectrum utilisation. The partnership underscores the continued commercial relevance of Huawei in markets outside the scope of security-driven procurement restrictions. T-Mobile’s nationwide 5G-Advanced launch in the US, referenced in its MWC 2026 statements, confirms that 5G-A is no longer a roadmap item but an operational reality in leading markets.
Siemens has offered a candid and instructive assessment of where private 5G adoption actually stands in industrial environments. The company reports that Industry 4.0 interest is growing, but adoption is slower and far more use-case driven than vendors initially anticipated. Siemens is deliberately not pitching private 5G as a standalone network proposition; instead, it embeds 5G capability within its existing automation and OEM solutions, sold through established industrial sales channels. The operational technology departments making purchasing decisions require hard-nosed KPI-based justification tied directly to their production domains and proven outcomes. It is an honest corrective to the hype cycle, and a useful model for how enterprise 5G deployments are most likely to succeed.
The strategic importance of private 5G resilience has been brought into sharp relief by the escalating conflict in the Middle East. Analysts at SNS Telecom & IT note that military strikes targeting energy infrastructure are raising serious concerns about the operational continuity of private wireless networks supporting oil and gas, utilities and public safety across the region. The UAE’s ADNOC operates a 100-site, multi-band private 5G network across upstream oil and gas facilities, while Saudi Arabia hosts two large-scale mission-critical private network projects, including Aramco Digital’s network. No direct damage to private cellular infrastructure has been confirmed, but the risks to deployment timelines and operational continuity are real and may influence the pace of private 5G adoption in exposed regions.
The pace of 5G deployment across emerging and developing markets continued to impress this week. Ooredoo Algeria announced the completion of nationwide 5G coverage, becoming the first operator to provide 5G service across all wilayas in the country and exceeding its first-year regulatory targets. In Malaysia, U Mobile cleared a significant regulatory hurdle, with Mawar Setia acquiring a majority stake from Singapore Technologies Telemedia and bringing the operator into compliance with local ownership requirements for its controversial 5G network contract, awarded in November 2024. Brazil’s Ministry of Communications now projects that 80% of the population across 2,220 municipalities will have 5G access by the end of 2026, a figure that substantially exceeds the original target of 1,469 cities. More than 800 communities with populations below 30,000 are in scope for 5G coverage by the year end.
In West Africa, Telecel Ghana is raising network investment by 150% to meet surging data demand and prepare for future technologies including 5G, increasing its site count from approximately 5,000 to around 9,000 sites and expanding on the back of a $70 million Huawei modernisation project launched in late 2025. MTN reported that it has surpassed 307 million voice customers across 16 African markets, with 172 million data users and 70 million mobile money customers. Service revenue reached approximately $11.8 billion in 2025, with 27% data traffic growth underpinning its Ambition 2030 strategy and a $2.05 billion capex commitment to expand capacity and coverage continent-wide.
The convergence of low-Earth-orbit satellite deployments and evolving 5G standards is bringing direct-to-device connectivity closer to commercial viability. Direct-to-device technology is increasingly viewed as a critical mechanism for bridging terrestrial 5G networks with satellite coverage, particularly for users in remote and underserved communities. O2’s launch of its satellite service in Scotland reflects the same logic: satellite is not a replacement for terrestrial 5G but a complementary layer that extends meaningful connectivity to areas where cell-based infrastructure remains uneconomic. Freedom Telecom International has also signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Nokia to explore joint innovation in 5G and beyond, adding another dimension to the growing ecosystem of vendor-operator partnerships shaping next-generation networks.
The GSMA used the Global Fraud Summit 2026 in Vienna to endorse a new Global Public-Private Partnership Framework against Fraud, building on the coordinated industry action called for at MWC Barcelona. The Framework is grounded in shared responsibility, proactive prevention, information-sharing, victim support and consumer education. Fraud remains a significant operational and reputational challenge for the telecoms industry, particularly as scammers continue to exploit regulatory and enforcement gaps across telecoms, financial services, technology platforms and law enforcement jurisdictions. The Vienna summit signals that the industry is taking a more structured, cross-sector approach to a problem that 5G’s expanded connectivity surface area will only intensify.
Ericsson and Nokia are diverging like never before on AI-RAN
A clear-eyed analysis of the strategic and technical gulf opening up between the two dominant western RAN vendors, with major implications for operators planning RAN refresh investments.
https://www.lightreading.com/5g/ericsson-and-nokia-are-diverging-like-never-before-on-ai-ran
European court gives preliminary green light to national 5G vendor bans
A landmark legal opinion from the European Court of Justice clarifies the conditions under which member states may lawfully exclude vendors on security grounds, providing critical regulatory guidance for governments across the continent.
https://www.telecoms.com/telecoms-law/european-court-gives-preliminary-green-light-to-national-5g-vendor-bans
5G core spending rose 83% in Q4 2025 as CSPs accelerate 5G SA deployments
Omdia’s Core Market Tracker reveals the scale of operator investment behind 5G Standalone, with data on vendor market share, leading regions, and the monetisation opportunities driving deployment decisions.
https://www.lightreading.com/5g/5g-core-spending-rose-83-in-q4-2025-as-csps-accelerate-5g-sa-deployments-omdia
Physical AI, without the theatre: Siemens finds its private 5G groove
An honest and instructive account of how private 5G adoption is actually unfolding in industrial environments, and why embedding connectivity in automation solutions is proving more effective than top-down network pitches.
https://www.rcrwireless.com/20260320/private-5g/physical-ai-siemens-private-5g
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