The telecommunications industry’s focus continues to shift from deployment metrics to monetisation strategies, with AI emerging as the central enabler across network operations, enterprise services, and business model innovation. This week’s developments reveal an industry navigating the complex transition from standalone 5G architecture towards 5G-Advanced capabilities whilst confronting persistent challenges around returns on investment, geopolitical market fragmentation, and intensifying competition from non-traditional players.
The industry’s long-standing struggle to extract meaningful revenue from 5G investments is prompting operators to embrace more sophisticated approaches centred on intelligent automation and network programmability. GSMA’s latest whitepaper highlights how operators are pivoting from user acquisition to commercialisation of 5G-Advanced capabilities, exploring scenarios including NWDAF-integrated AI for enhanced user experience, collaboration with over-the-top providers through Intelligent Packet Core for high-definition video delivery, and new value propositions in human-vehicle-home ecosystems.
Practical applications are beginning to validate these approaches. Ericsson and Far EasTone’s standalone 5G trials in Taiwan demonstrated performance-based connectivity services at a 40,000-person concert venue, using on-device AI to manage application-level network slicing and adapt resources according to real-time demand. The successful deployment represents tangible evidence that network slicing can move beyond theoretical benefits to deliver differentiated services at commercial scale.
The intelligent packet core is emerging as a critical enabler, with operators leveraging AI-driven automation and RAN data analysis to address persistent challenges around interference and spectrum inefficiency. Industry observers note that AI is transitioning from proof-of-concept deployments into day-to-day network operations, with emphasis shifting from analysis paralysis towards faster deployment cycles and operational scale.
The private 5G market has achieved mainstream status, with Berg Insight reporting 6,500 live deployments globally by end-2025, representing a $2.4 billion market projected to reach $12 billion by 2030 at a compound annual growth rate of 38%. Nokia leads deployment rankings with 960 customers and over 2,000 installations, whilst Huawei and Ericsson maintain significant positions despite broader market pressures.
Market maturation is being driven by several converging factors: increasing availability of dedicated spectrum, evolving device ecosystems, and growing numbers of latency-sensitive enterprise applications requiring guaranteed performance levels. The Boingo-Globalstar partnership demonstrates how private 5G capabilities are expanding into mission-critical environments including airports, stadiums, hospitals, and military installations, with XCOM RAN platform promising four times the capacity of current offerings through its “supercell” architecture designed to eliminate handoff boundaries in dense industrial settings.
Verizon’s strategy offers instructive insight into how carriers are positioning themselves for enterprise AI workloads. The operator’s One Fiber project represents multibillion-dollar annual capital expenditure to densify fibre infrastructure across 69 US cities, specifically targeting metro area connectivity for distributed AI inference workloads. This approach pairs dense fibre with private 5G systems for IoT connectivity and edge computing deployment at enterprise premises, creating integrated infrastructure for AI-enabled applications.
Western equipment manufacturers continue experiencing severe pressure in the Chinese market, with Ericsson’s revenues declining to less than 40% of 2020 levels and Nokia’s Greater China business falling from €2.2 billion in 2019 to €913 million in 2025. Both vendors have substantially reduced regional headcount, reflecting structural market shifts driven by geopolitical tensions and reduced Chinese 5G capital expenditure.
These challenges contrast sharply with growth projections for global 5G equipment markets, which SNS Insider estimates could reach $265 billion by 2035 from $32 billion in 2025, representing a 23.6% CAGR. Growth drivers include AI integration, private network deployments, smart infrastructure expansion, and the transition to software-defined networking and virtualisation architectures.
However, architectural evolution is proving more complex than initially anticipated. Dell’Oro Group has revised downwards its forecasts for both Cloud RAN and multi-vendor RAN, now expecting multi-vendor deployments to account for less than 5% of total RAN by 2030. The analyst notes that whilst openness, intelligence, automation, and virtualisation remain strategic priorities, actual adoption curves vary significantly. Large-scale cloud-native RAN deployments at tier-one operators have predominantly followed single-vendor vRAN approaches rather than multi-vendor configurations, challenging earlier assumptions about market fragmentation and supplier diversity.
The US wireless market is experiencing fundamental structural change, with cable MVNOs capturing 45% of all new wireless customers through Q3 2025, more than any facilities-based carrier. Charter Spectrum Mobile and Comcast Xfinity Mobile have effectively become the de facto fourth major wireless operator, leveraging intelligent Wi-Fi/5G offloading strategies that Ookla research shows can deliver roughly 100 Mbps download speed improvements.
Wi-Fi 7’s introduction strengthens this convergence trend through deterministic capabilities that transform Wi-Fi from best-effort connectivity to predictable, controllable performance suitable for mission-critical applications. Technologies including Passpoint and OpenRoaming enable seamless authentication using service provider credentials, whilst substantial venue-funded indoor Wi-Fi investments create infrastructure that complements 5G deployments cost-effectively.
The sale of DISH’s spectrum assets to Starlink signals the definitive end of traditional “fourth carrier” ambitions, whilst simultaneously highlighting emerging competitive pressure from satellite providers. Telecom operators face strategic choices about how to leverage physical proximity advantages in an era of hyperscaler cloud services and orbital networks, with edge infrastructure, indoor coverage, and programmable network APIs identified as defensible differentiators for ultra-low latency services and regulatory compliance requirements.
The Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance has published a framework to help operators manage growing 5G network complexity whilst reducing total cost of ownership and supporting sustainability objectives. NGMN’s three-step approach emphasises cloud-native architectures, agentic and generative AI capabilities, federated network services, and optical fibre evolution as key enablers. The framework acknowledges that operators at different deployment stages require tailored simplification strategies across radio, core, and transport domains.
These efforts occur as the industry begins positioning for 5G-Advanced and eventual 6G transitions. SmarTone’s selection of Ericsson 5G-Advanced technology in Hong Kong introduces programmable network functions enabling dynamic resource control through automation, intent-driven operations, and AI integration. The deployment includes latest-generation massive MIMO radios with improved energy efficiency and mobile edge computing using local packet gateway architecture for geographically redundant services.
Industry expectations point to 3GPP beginning 6G standards releases around 2030, with AI and machine learning frameworks embedded throughout network layers including RAN, core, and management systems to enable dynamic resource allocation, predictive maintenance, and autonomous optimisation. Orange Romania’s expansion to 88 cities covering 4.5 million households, True’s network capacity enhancements for Thailand’s elections, and Vodafone’s 5G spectrum acquisition in Türkiye demonstrate continued investment in current-generation infrastructure whilst architecture evolution progresses.
How the intelligent packet core drives 5G/5G-A monetisation
GSMA whitepaper exploring AI-integrated capabilities, OTT collaboration, and human-vehicle-home scenarios
https://www.gsma.com/get-involved/gsma-foundry/gsma_resources/how-the-intelligent-packet-core-drives-5g-5g-a-monetisation/
How the intelligent packet core drives 5G/5G-A monetisation
GSMA whitepaper exploring AI-integrated capabilities, OTT collaboration, and human-vehicle-home scenarios
https://www.gsma.com/get-involved/gsma-foundry/gsma_resources/how-the-intelligent-packet-core-drives-5g-5g-a-monetisation/
Ericsson and Nokia see their sales in China fall off a cliff
Western vendors experience dramatic revenue declines as geopolitical tensions reshape market dynamics
https://www.lightreading.com/5g/ericsson-and-nokia-see-their-sales-in-china-fall-off-a-cliff
The great convergence: the state of US wireless competition
Cable MVNOs capture 45% of new wireless customers, fundamentally reshaping competitive landscape
https://www.lightreading.com/wireless/the-great-convergence-the-state-of-u-s-wireless-competition
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