Analysis: Castanet and other companies building 5G Broadcast TV networks aimed at mobile devices
Disclaimer: The author used Gemini to identify and research companies involved in 5G Broadcast networks.
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Introduction:
Several companies and consortiums, including XGen Global, X1 Mobile, Tyche Media, Milachi Media, and startup Castanet, are actively building and planning to deploy 5G Broadcast networks, with significant U.S. and international activity expected throughout 2026. These initiatives focus on delivering linear TV, data, and emergency alerts directly to mobile devices. These projects aim to solve a fundamental technical flaw: standard cellular networks (unicast) struggle to scale when millions of users try to watch the same live content simultaneously. By using a one-to-many transmission model, these networks can deliver high-quality content to an unlimited number of devices without increasing network congestion.
- Live Media & Entertainment: High-definition (4K/8K) video and audio for major sporting events, concerts, and festivals, delivered with ultra-low latency (under 1 second).
- Emergency Alerts: Rapid, reliable public safety notifications, including real-time video, hazard maps, and evacuation guidance, which bypass congested cellular towers during disasters.
- Automotive Updates: Efficient delivery of firmware-over-the-air (FOTA) updates and real-time infotainment/traffic data to millions of vehicles simultaneously.
- Network Resilience & Offloading: Serving as a “release valve” for mobile carriers by handling massive data spikes, such as viral video events or large software releases.
- Education: Remote learning and virtual classroom delivery in rural areas that lack reliable internet or cellular coverage
The global market for these services is projected to reach approximately $1.16 billion in 2026, according to Mordor Intelligence. It’s being driven largely by large-scale deployments in the Asia-Pacific region and early commercial pilots in the U.S. Please see: Other 5G Broadcast Projects below.
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Castanet’s 5G Broadcast Project:
Castanet plans to build a national 5G Broadcast network in the U.S., utilizing hundreds of low-power TV (LPTV) stations [1.] to cover 95% of the population. The company is planning to conduct at least three field trials this year. In a FCC ex parte filed February 12th related with the coming upper C-band spectrum auction, Castanet told the agency that two commercial pilots – in Santa Clara, California (this author’s home town for 56 years), and Las Vegas, Nevada – could be operational by this April. The Woodinville, WA based startup is also pursuing a pilot in Washington, DC, with Sinclair Broadcast Group “as soon as possible,” according to the FCC filing.
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Note 1. In the United States, LPTV is currently the primary FCC regulatory path for 5G Broadcast. Internationally, many projects utilize high-power/high-tower (HPHT) infrastructure. The FCC has not yet authorized 5G Broadcast for full-power TV stations. Consequently, companies like Castanet and XGen Network are building their networks by partnering with LPTV stations, which serve as a more flexible “testbed” for the technology. Major LPTV owner HC2 Broadcasting has specifically petitioned the FCC to allow LPTV stations to adopt the 5G Broadcast standard voluntarily. U.S. stations WWOO-LD (Boston) and WTXX-LD (Hartford) operate under experimental licenses specifically granted to LPTV stations to test 5G signals.
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Castanet believes its approach is fully authorized under the FCC’s existing Broadcast Internet service rules. From the company’s ex parte:
“Because Castanet’s planned network can provide synergistic capacity that will help C-band users transition to Ku-band at lower cost, this and the contemplated meeting notice will also be filed in this C-band docket, although most of the update is not directly related to the C-band rulemaking.”
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- Release 16 (The “5G Broadcast” Baseline): Finalized in 2020, this release established the core 5G Broadcast specifications. It introduced enhancements to the enTV (enhanced TV) standard from Release 14, allowing for standalone terrestrial broadcast operation without requiring a SIM card or a cellular unicast connection.
- Release 17 (Architecture & Hybrid Operations): This release defined the 5G Multicast-Broadcast Services (MBS) architecture. It introduced support for 6/7/8 MHz carrier bandwidths, specifically aligning with global terrestrial broadcast channel spacing. Crucially, it enabled dynamic switching between point-to-multipoint (PTM) and point-to-point (PTP) delivery, facilitating the “dual-screen” and interactive use cases mentioned in your text.
- Release 18 & 19 (Future-Proofing): Known as 5G-Advanced, these releases focus on improving performance for high-power, high-tower (HPHT) deployments and adding AI-driven network management. Release 19 specifically approved Bands 112 and 113 for LTE-based 5G terrestrial broadcast, ensuring broader spectrum availability
- Terrestrial PNT (“GPS on the Ground”): The platform is engineered to provide high-penetration, long-range positioning services. By leveraging the high processing gain of broadcast waveforms, Castanet aims to mitigate the link budget limitations and multipath interference common in satellite-based GPS (GNSS) within indoor and urban canyon environments.
- Low-Latency Edge CDN: By integrating Edge Cache modules into home media gateways, connected vehicle platforms, and 5G handsets, Castanet is deploying a distributed Content Delivery Network (CDN). This architecture utilizes the inherent efficiency of one-to-many broadcast for data dissemination, significantly reducing backhaul congestion and latency for high-demand assets.
- To achieve national scale, Castanet is executing an aggressive LPTV (Low Power TV) acquisition and partnership strategy. The company estimates that a footprint of 1,200 stations will provide approximately 95% POP coverage across the U.S.
| Deployment Strategy | Target Station Count | Status/Model |
|---|---|---|
| Owned & Operated | ~600 Stations | Direct acquisition/Full stack control |
| Strategic Partnerships | ~600 Stations | Spectrum leasing & MOU-based integration |
| Current Pipeline | 456 Stations | MOUs signed; +200 projected by NAB Show |
Other 5G Broadcast Projects:
- XGen Network / X1 Mobile: Led by “SuperFrank” Copsidas, this company is deploying 5G Broadcast enabled TV stations in the U.S.. In early 2026, stations in Boston (WCRN and WWOO) applied for experimental licenses, part of a rollout intended to cover over 40 million people.
- HC2 Broadcasting: As the largest LPTV broadcaster in the U.S., HC2 has petitioned the FCC to adopt 5G Broadcast as an authorized transmission standard for low-power stations.
- Rohde & Schwarz, Qualcomm, and Motorola: These companies are collaborating on international 5G Broadcast proofs of concept, recently demonstrating live television delivery to Motorola handsets at events like the SET Expo 2025 in Brazil.
- China Mobile & China Unicom: China Mobile launched the world’s first commercial 5G-Advanced broadcast service in 100 cities in early 2025, with plans to reach 300 by the end of that year.
- Milachi Media and Tyche Media: These licensees are among the first in the U.S. to apply for experimental 5G Broadcast licenses to test video, audio, and data delivery to first responders and mobile receivers.
- Austrian Broadcasting Services (ORS): Through its brand Nakolos, ORS has been a pioneer in Europe, establishing a 5G Broadcast testbed in Vienna and developing apps that switch between traditional streaming and 5G Broadcast signals.
- Verizon Business: Unveiled a private 5G broadcast solution at NAB 2025, using AI and NVIDIA technology to manage simultaneous 4K camera feeds for live events.
- Ericsson and Nokia: While they focus heavily on standard 5G infrastructure, both provide the 5G Core and radio technology that supports broadcast capabilities and private 5G networks for media production.
- Neutral Wireless and DigiCap: These firms provide the specialized modulators and scheduling software required to “slot” 5G Broadcast signals into existing TV spectrum.
- Milachi Media & Tyche Media: These licensees are leading trials in the Boston area, reaching over 8 million people with experimental 5G Broadcast facilities.
- Live Events: Delivering high-definition sports and concerts to fans in stadiums without congesting cellular networks.
- Public Safety: Sending emergency alerts and real-time data to first responders.
- Data Offloading: Pre-staging large software updates (e.g., for autonomous vehicles) or video payloads on device caches during off-peak hours.
- B2B2X (Business-to-Business-to-X): Instead of charging consumers directly, network operators charge companies (like automotive OEMs or sports leagues) to deliver their data to end-users.
- Data Offloading Fees: Cellular carriers (MNOs) pay broadcast network operators to “offload” heavy streaming traffic from their mobile networks, saving the MNOs from expensive infrastructure overprovisioning.
- Network Slicing & NaaS: Offering “Network-as-a-Service” (NaaS), where enterprises subscribe to a dedicated, high-security “slice” of the broadcast spectrum for private communication or industrial IoT.
- Targeted & Programmatic Advertising: Using the hybrid nature of 5G (combining broadcast and unicast) to deliver personalized local ads and interactive shopping experiences (“Live Commerce”) on top of the main broadcast signal.
- Public Safety Contracts: Generating revenue through government-funded initiatives for critical communication infrastructure and first-responder networks.
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References:
https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/1021285000173/1
https://www.lightreading.com/5g/castanet-tees-up-5g-broadcast-market-trials
3GPP 5G Broadcast: Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); User Equipment (UE) radio transmission and reception
New broadcast TV standard ATSC 3.0 “Next Gen TV” to cover 82% of U.S. households by end of 2022
5G Emerge: ESA & European Broadcast Union agreement for satellite enabled 5G media market
TV Broadcasts on 5G Networks: Telefónica and DVB Project
China Broadcasting Network tender for 480,400 5G macro base stations & multi-band antenna products
Qualcomm and China Broadcasting Network demo 5G data call in the 700MHz FDD spectrum
Will a new standard enable Mobile Video to take off in the U.S.?
SKT 6G ATHENA White Paper: a mid-to-long term network evolution strategy for the AI era
Introduction:
This ATHENA [1.] white paper presents SK Telecom’s (SKT’s) vision for future communication, rooted in fundamental values like security, stability, and quality, with a focus on AI-native innovation.
Note 1. The ‘ATHENA’ (AI, Trust, Hyper-connectivity, Experience, opeN, Agility) architecture outlines SKT’s roadmap to accelerate AI convergence and enhance customer experience in preparation for 6G commercialization post-2030. It reinforces SKT’s commitment to an AI-native, Zero Trust, and open network ecosystem.
SK Telecom continues to actively participate in global standardization to shape the future of communications and will showcase related core technologies at the upcoming 2026 MWC in Barcelona. SKT will showcase key related technologies, including various AI agents for networks, AI-RAN technology that provides both communication and AI services, on-device AI-based antenna optimization, and integrated communication and sensing technology that gathers environmental information via radio signals.
Photo Credit: SK Telecom (SKT)
Backgrounder: In 2023, SKT introduced key requirements and technology trends for 6G standardization, and in 2024, it emphasized the direction of communication infrastructure in the era of AI.
In preparation for the commercialization of 6G expected after 2030, the latest white paper comprehensively presents SKT’s mid- to long-term network evolution strategy to accelerate AI convergence, expand services such as humanoid robots and satellite communications, address advanced security threats, and shift network operation paradigms. The goal is to enhance operational efficiency, innovate customer experience, and achieve network monetization in a rapidly changing communications environment.
Through this white paper, SKT has clarified its network vision and technological evolution based on the fundamental values of security, stability, safety, and quality to prepare for future communication environments, including 6G.
Vision Based on Fundamental Network Values:
SKT has established AI-native, Zero Trust, Ubiquitous, Open, and Cloud-native as its key pillars, and aims to maximize customer experience through a Customer-centric network evolution vision that prioritizes fault prevention, security, and quality in response to diverse devices and new service environments.
AI technology is expected to evolve along two main directions: ‘AI for Network,’ which enables real-time data analysis and AI-based decision-making for self-optimizing networks; and ‘Network for AI,’ which focuses on optimizing networks to efficiently support AI services.
The security paradigm will be strengthened under the Zero Trust principle, and the infrastructure will evolve into a converged platform not tied to specific generations or technologies such as 5G, 6G, or satellite communications. An open ecosystem will be pursued through general-purpose hardware and open-source-based technologies.
The white paper also outlines the expansion of virtualization in networks for flexible resource utilization and a vision to prioritize customer needs to enhance customer experience.
To achieve this vision, SKT has defined its mid- to long-term network architecture as ATHENA*, detailing structures for the radio access network, core network, transport network, and network data platform.
* ATHENA stands for AI-native (integration of artificial intelligence throughout the network), Trust (adoption of Zero Trust security principles), Hyper-connectivity (seamless connections across diverse devices and environments), Experience (customer-centric innovation and enhanced user experience), opeN (openness through open-source technologies and collaborative ecosystems), and Agility (flexible and cloud-native network operations).
SK Telecom has presented a mid- to long-term direction to gradually apply AI- and cloud-based intelligence and automation across all network domains. The radio access network will evolve into a structure capable of AI-based autonomous optimization through virtualization and open interfaces. The core and transport networks are expected to advance toward enhanced automation and efficient control using AI in a cloud-native environment. The network data platform will expand its role as a key platform for creating AI-based services and customer value using network data.
In line with these efforts, SKT is actively participating in major international specification and standardization organizations such as 3GPP, ITU-R, and O-RAN Alliance to ensure that its future network vision and mid- to long-term architecture are effectively reflected in global standards. The company is conducting advanced R&D in core 6G technologies such as AI-RAN and autonomous networks.
Furthermore, SKT was recently elected as a new board member of the AI-RAN Alliance, contributing to discussions on the evolution of next-generation RAN through the convergence of AI and wireless technologies.
“Despite uncertainties in the 6G era, we will continue to create new growth opportunities by leading the evolution of future communication infrastructure over the next decade, prioritizing customer value and combining AI, virtualization, openness, and Zero Trust security,” said Yu Takki, Head of Network Technology Office at SK Telecom.
This white paper affirms SKT’s dedication to leading the evolution of communication infrastructure over the next decade.
About SK Telecom:
SK Telecom has been leading the growth of the mobile industry since 1984. Now, it is taking customer experience to new heights by extending beyond connectivity. By placing AI at the core of its business, SK Telecom is rapidly transforming into an AI company with a strong global presence. It is focusing on driving innovations in areas of AI Infrastructure, AI Transformation (AIX) and AI Service to deliver greater value for industry, society, and life.
References:
https://news-static.sktelecom.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/2026-SKT-6G-White-Paper-ATHENA_Eng.pdf
https://www.sktelecom.com/en/press/press_detail.do?idx=1657¤tPage=1&type=&keyword=
https://www.sktelecom.com/en/press/press_detail.do?idx=1656¤tPage=1&type=&keyword=
SK Telecom forms AI CIC in-house company to pursue internal AI innovation
SK Telecom (SKT) and Nokia to work on AI assisted “fiber sensing”
SK Group and AWS to build Korea’s largest AI data center in Ulsan
SK Telecom unveils plans for AI Infrastructure at SK AI Summit 2024
SKT-Samsung Electronics to Optimize 5G Base Station Performance using AI
SK Telecom and Singtel partner to develop next-generation telco technologies using AI
SK Telecom, DOCOMO, NTT and Nokia develop 6G AI-native air interface
SK Telecom, Intel develop low-latency technology for 6G core network
SK Telecom and Thales Trial Post-quantum Cryptography to Enhance Users’ Protection on 5G SA Network
Nscale pitches “Sovereign AI” to telecom operators to provide AI-as-a-service (AIaaS)
Nscale [1.], headquartered in London, UK, is suggesting that telecom networks host “Sovereign AI” infrastructure, to ensure that data remains within regional borders while driving efficiency and automation. The company is collaborating with Nokia to accelerate global AI infrastructure deployment and is showcasing these solutions at MWC 2026. The company is partnering with telecom operators to transform their existing national fiber and edge sites into high-performance AI data centers. They aim to leverage telco assets to deliver GPU-powered AI-as-a-Service (AIaaS), optimize their 5G networks, and support AI-driven analytics.
Note 1. Nscale is building the advanced infrastructure, systems and solutions that enables practitioners, enterprises, and governments across the globe to create, deploy, and scale their most transformative AI systems. Nscale’s AI Compute offering provides on-demand access to high-performance GPUs, enabling businesses and developers to execute complex computational tasks like AI model training and data analysis without the need for upfront investment in expensive hardware. Nscale is building its own high-density data centers with direct liquid cooling to support these initiatives.
Nscale says they are “empowering telecommunications providers to deliver a range of AI services and solutions which help support network optimization and network performance monitoring, alongside improving customer experience with AI-powered automation tools. With our scalable GPU infrastructure and AI expertise, our telco customers can provide industry-leading AI-as-a-service (AIaaS), scale for 5G and benefit from artificial intelligence.”
Last week at the UK Telecoms Innovation Network (UKTIN)’s AI & Advanced Connectivity: State of AI panel, Nscale’s Simon Rowell spoke about the importance of building infrastructure that is resilient and able to adapt over time. Technologies evolve, but what matters is whether the underlying infrastructure can accommodate that change. Across telco networks and digital services, the fundamentals remain consistent: efficiency, automation, productivity, and resilience. Nscale is focused on building flexible AI infrastructure that can support real services as requirements change.
UK Telecoms Innovation Network Panel Session State of AI in UK Telecoms. Photo Credit: Nscale
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Nokia and Nscale are collaborating to accelerate the development of AI-ready data center infrastructure across Europe and globally. As part of this partnership, Nokia serves as the preferred networking partner for Nscale, providing IP, optical networking, and data center switching technology to support high-performance AI clusters. Key aspects of the collaboration include:
- Infrastructure Build-out: Nokia is supplying its 7220 IXR and 7750 SR platforms to support Nscale’s AI-ready data centers, including a key project in Stavanger, Norway, and a 50 MW AI Campus in Loughton, U.K..
- Strategic Investment: Nokia is an investor in Nscale’s Series B funding round, supporting the company’s expansion and the deployment of up to 300,000 GPUs.
- Technology & Innovation: The partnership focuses on co-developing networking stacks for AI clusters, utilizing Nokia’s Ethernet-based data center fabric for low-latency, high-performance computing. Sustainability
- Focus: The collaboration emphasizes energy-efficient cooling and 100% renewable energy for data center operations. Nokia Nokia +4
David Power CTO at Nscale said, “Our mission is to redefine the boundaries of AI and High-Performance Computing through innovative, sustainable solutions. Nokia’s data center fabric enables us to scale our GPU clusters while maintaining the reliability and performance needed to serve our customers with cutting-edge AI services. The flexibility of Nokia’s solution ensures we can bring advanced AI capabilities to market faster.”
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References:
Sovereign AI infrastructure for telecom companies: implementation and challenges
Nokia in major pivot from traditional telecom to AI, cloud infrastructure, data center networking and 6G
Nokia selects Intel’s Justin Hotard as new CEO to increase growth in IP networking and data center connections
Comparing AI Native mode in 6G (IMT 2030) vs AI Overlay/Add-On status in 5G (IMT 2020)
Private 5G networks move to include automation, autonomous systems, edge computing & AI operations
Big tech spending on AI data centers and infrastructure vs the fiber optic buildout during the dot-com boom (& bust)
Ericsson goes with custom silicon (rather than Nvidia GPUs) for AI RAN
Ahead of MWC Barcelona 2026, Ericsson unveiled its initial suite of AI-RAN products at a pre-event briefing in London, emphasizing a strategy anchored in proprietary, purpose-built silicon to enhance radio access network (RAN) performance. While the wireless industry is finally moving to virtualized/cloud RAN utilizing general-purpose processors from Intel, Ericsson is defending its continued investment in custom silicon for specialized, high-performance tasks.
Concurrently, the company is demonstrating a strong push toward software-defined flexibility, ensuring its proprietary RAN algorithms and AI-native software are portable across diverse, open silicon platforms. Ericsson was exploring the use of Nvidia’s Arm-based Grace CPU, rather than the Hopper-branded GPU, but has opted for custom silicon (ASICs) instead.
Ericsson’s RAN portfolio currently diverges into two primary architectures. The majority of its footprint relies on ASICs—developed through internal design and external partnerships with Intel. The alternative is Cloud RAN, which pairs Ericsson’s software stack with Intel Xeon processors. Despite the industry’s promise that virtualization would decouple hardware from software, Intel remains Ericsson’s sole silicon partner for production-grade deployments.
This hardware lock-in was underscored during Ericsson’s recent London event, where documentation confirmed “commercial support” exclusively for Intel, while AMD, Arm, and NVIDIA remain relegated to “prototype support.” Despite years of industry rhetoric regarding silicon diversity in the vRAN ecosystem, tangible progress remains stalled. Furthermore, the integration of AI into RAN software introduces new layers of complexity that may further entrench hardware dependencies.
Industry observers remain skeptical of Ericsson’s ambition for a “unified software stack” across heterogeneous hardware platforms. While hardware-software disaggregation is achievable in the higher layers (L2/L3), Layer 1 (L1)—the most compute-intensive portion of the stack—remains heavily optimized for specific silicon. Ericsson’s initial strategy relied on the portability of L1 code across x86 architectures (via AMD) or the adoption of Arm’s SVE2 (Scalable Vector Extension) to match Intel’s AVX-512 capabilities. However, achieving high-performance parity across these platforms without significant refactoring remains a significant engineering hurdle.
A critical bottleneck in PHY Layer (L1) processing is Forward Error Correction (FEC), which traditionally necessitates dedicated hardware acceleration. Ericsson initially addressed this using a lookaside acceleration model, offloading FEC tasks to discrete PCIe-based Intel accelerators. In recent iterations, Intel has moved toward a more integrated System-on-Chip (SoC) approach, embedding the accelerator directly onto the CPU die (e.g., vRAN Boost).
The primary challenge for Ericsson lies in achieving silicon parity across the AMD and NVIDIA ecosystems. While AMD’s FPGA-based accelerators have faced scrutiny regarding power efficiency, NVIDIA’s GPU-based offloading was previously viewed as cost-prohibitive for standard FEC. However, the rise of AI-RAN has recalibrated these economic models, as telcos explore the dual-use potential of GPUs for both RAN and AI workloads. Emerging platforms, such as Google’s Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), have also been identified by Ericsson leadership as viable long-term options.
Despite ambitions for a unified “single software track,” Ericsson’s technical roadmap suggests a more nuanced reality. While L2 and higher layers aim for a universal codebase across hardware platforms, L1 necessitates concurrent feature development and platform-specific tailoring. As CTO Erik Ekudden noted, maximizing the efficiency of advanced accelerators requires a degree of software customization that challenges the ideal of total hardware-software disaggregation.
Ericsson executives are keen to avoid what Executive VP Per Narvinger describes as a “native implementation,” which would create silicon vendor lock-in. To prevent that the company is prioritizing Hardware Abstraction Layers (HALs). Key initiatives include the adoption of the BBDev (Baseband Device) interface to decouple RAN software from underlying silicon. Furthermore, potential integration with NVIDIA’s CUDA platform is being evaluated to provide the necessary abstraction for heterogeneous compute environments, though this remains contingent on broader industry standardization.
Ericsson’s AI strategy mirrors this modular approach. By leveraging AI as a functional abstraction layer, the company aims to simplify software portability across diverse platforms while maintaining AI control loops for real-time network management. Unlike competitors tethered to high-TDP GPUs, Ericsson maintains that AI-RAN is commercially viable on general-purpose and purpose-built silicon. Recent London showcases highlighted AI-driven gains in spectral efficiency, channel estimation, and beamforming without external acceleration. A production-ready AI-native link adaptation model recently delivered a 10% spectral efficiency improvement in field tests and is now integrated into the latest baseband portfolio.
As for radios—a domain less susceptible to full virtualization—Ericsson is embedding Neural Network Accelerators (NNA) directly into its radio-unit ASICs. These programmable matrix cores are optimized for Massive MIMO inference, enabling sub-millisecond beamforming and channel estimation while adhering to strict site power envelopes. New AI‑ready radios, feature Ericsson custom silicon with neural network accelerators. They are said to boost on‑site AI inference capabilities in Massive MIMO radios, enabling real‑time optimization and full stack, fully distributed AI.
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References:
https://www.lightreading.com/5g/ericsson-does-ai-ran-minus-nvidia-in-push-for-5g-silicon-freedom
RAN silicon rethink – from purpose built products & ASICs to general purpose processors or GPUs for vRAN & AI RAN
Analysis: Nokia and Marvell partnership to develop 5G RAN silicon technology + other Nokia moves
China gaining on U.S. in AI technology arms race- silicon, models and research
Marvell shrinking share of the RAN custom silicon market & acquisition of XConn Technologies for AI data center connectivity
Intel FlexRAN™ gets boost from AT&T; faces competition from Marvel, Qualcomm, and EdgeQ for Open RAN silicon
Lumen launches Multi-Cloud Gateway (MCGW) and expands metro fiber network after selling consumer FTTH business to AT&T
Lumen Technologies has announced a new Multi-Cloud Gateway (MCGW) and expanded its metro fiber optic network across 16 major U.S. markets, delivering up to 400G b/sec connectivity to support high-speed AI data processing. This initiative provides a software-defined, self-service platform for secure, private, and flexible connections between enterprise data centers and cloud providers.
Lumen says the new MCGW product and expanded fiber footprint will simplify how data moves across hybrid environments by bringing both centralized multi-cloud routing and high-capacity private metro connectivity. The result will be a more consistent, controllable networking foundation for AI and other modern workloads. This expansion is part of a broader strategy where Lumen plans to reach 58 million fiber miles by 2031 to meet the soaring demand for AI-ready infrastructure.
“Moving data across hybrid environments is a lot like managing air traffic – you need clear routes, predictable timing, and the ability to adjust when conditions change. Most legacy networks weren’t built for that level of coordination,” said Jim Fowler, Lumen chief technology and product officer. “With our expanded network fabric, Lumen gives enterprises a way to move data securely, effortlessly, and consistently across clouds, data centers, and edge locations, designed to reduce the complexity that hold AI-driven operations back.”
Multi-Cloud Gateway: Multi-Cloud Gateway (MCGW) is a core element of Lumen’s shift to cloud-based telecom. Built as a software-defined, self-service routing layer on Lumen’s global fiber network, MCGW provides private, high-capacity connectivity among enterprises, hyperscalers and emerging cloud platforms. It turns traditional telecom interconnection into a programmable cloud fabric, allowing customers to dynamically connect cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-enterprise environments, optimize traffic for performance and cost, and support advanced use cases such as AI workload distribution and real-time data exchange. By unifying connectivity, routing and policy, MCGW is designed to reduce operational complexity, speed time to service and lower total cost of ownership.
Lumen Multi-Cloud Gateway:
Image credit: Lumen Technologies
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Metro Ethernet & IP Services: Expanded high-capacity, dedicated connectivity across 16 U.S. markets, delivering up to 100Gbps between regional data centers, campuses, and edge locations and up to 400Gbps at key cloud data centers in those markets. This enables fast, secure movement of massive datasets for AI training, analytics, replication, and disaster recovery.
Recently upgraded markets include Northern Virginia; Atlanta; Chicago; Columbus; Dallas; Denver; Kansas City; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Minneapolis; New York City; Phoenix; Portland; San Antonio; San Jose; and Seattle.
“AI is reshaping network design, pushing enterprises to move from experimentation to execution with architectures that reduce latency, cost variability, and operational complexity,” said Courtney Munroe, Vice President, Worldwide Telecommunications Research at IDC. “As workloads become more distributed and performance sensitive, organizations are rethinking how they connect edge sites, data centers, and multiple clouds, and Lumen’s network fabric shows how programmable networks can deliver more consistent data movement.”
The business impact is immediate and practical for industries scaling their AI ambitions:Financial Services: Keep risk, payments, and fraud workloads synchronized across multiple clouds with centralized policy control for lower latency and more predictable performance.
- Retail: Improve business agility by accelerating data movement across cloud and enterprise environments, so analytics keep pace with changing demand.
- Healthcare: Maintain data separation, support telehealth services, imaging and analytics, disaster recovery, and manage research workloads across institutions and resource centers.
- Manufacturing: Connect regional facilities and cloud environments to enable real-time analytics and predictive maintenance.
- Multi-Cloud Gateway (MCGW): Launched and available as of February 17, 2026, as a software-defined, self-service routing layer.
- Metro Network Expansion: Currently live across 16 major U.S. markets (including New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles), offering up to 400 Gbps at key cloud data centers.
- Internet On-Demand: Expanded in late 2025 to over 10 million new business locations, providing “cloud-like” connectivity scalability within minutes.
- Wavelength RapidRoutes: Available for deployment in just 20 business days, significantly faster than industry standard turn-up times.
- Microsoft: Chosen to expand Microsoft’s network capacity to support surging demand for Azure AI services. Microsoft utilizes Lumen’s Private Connectivity Fabric (PCF) for custom network architecture between data centers.
- Google Cloud: Partnered to modernize Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) offerings. This allows Lumen-managed SD-WAN and security services to be hosted directly in Google Cloud regions.
- Palantir Technologies: A multi-year alliance formed in October 2025 to combine Lumen’s connectivity fabric with Palantir’s Foundry and AI Platform (AIP), enabling enterprises to deploy AI faster in multi-cloud environments.
- Other Hyperscalers: Lumen has secured approximately $8.5 billion in private connectivity deals with companies including Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Meta to support their AI model training.
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On February 2nd, Lumen announced that it completed the sale of its Mass Markets fiber-to-the-home business in 11 states, including Quantum Fiber, to AT&T for $5.75 billion in cash. The sale includes substantially all of the related consumer fiber access network and customer relationships in those 11 states, which serve more than 1 million fiber customers and reaches more than 4 million enabled fiber locations. The completed transaction is another strategic milestone in Lumen’s transformation into the leading enterprise digital networking services company built for the multi-cloud, AI-driven economy rather than for consumer fiber access.
As part of the completed transaction, Lumen will retain assets that will continue to serve as the foundation of its enterprise transformation, including all national, regional, state, and metro level fiber backbone network infrastructure, central offices and associated real estate. In addition, Lumen is retaining and caring for its copper-based consumer services, which continue to provide a strong ongoing financial contribution to Lumen. The enterprise and wholesale fiber customers will remain with Lumen in all geographies.
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About Lumen Technologies:
Lumen is unleashing the world’s digital potential. We ignite business growth by connecting people, data, and applications – quickly, securely, and effortlessly. As the trusted network for AI, Lumen uses the scale of our network to help companies realize AI’s full potential. From metro connectivity to long-haul data transport to our edge cloud, security, managed service, and digital platform capabilities, we meet our customers’ needs today and as they build for tomorrow.
When networks shift from constraint to enabler, organizations can move faster, scale with confidence, and unlock greater innovation. To learn more about these products and availability timelines, visit Multi-Cloud Gateway and Connectivity Services.
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References:
https://assets.lumen.com/is/content/Lumen/lumen-multi-cloud-gateway-data-sheet
Lumen: “We’re Building the Backbone for the AI Economy” – NaaS platform to be available to more customers
Lumen deploys 400G on a routed optical network to meet AI & cloud bandwidth demands
Lumen and Ciena Transmit 1.2 Tbps Wavelength Service Across 3,050 Kilometers
Analysts weigh in: AT&T in talks to buy Lumen’s consumer fiber unit – Bloomberg
Lumen Technologies to connect Prometheus Hyperscale’s energy efficient AI data centers
Microsoft choses Lumen’s fiber based Private Connectivity Fabric℠ to expand Microsoft Cloud network capacity in the AI era
Lumen, Google and Microsoft create ExaSwitch™ – a new on-demand, optical networking ecosystem
ACSI report: AT&T, Lumen and Google Fiber top ranked in fiber network customer satisfaction
Taara Lightbridge Pro: an ultra reliable wireless optical communications system for 5G mobile backhaul
Google moonshot factory X graduate Taara [1.] is launching Lightbridge Pro, a wireless optical communications system designed to deliver 99.999% (“five nines”) carrier-grade uptime for 20 Gbps backhaul, addressing weather-related reliability issues in Free Space Optical Communication (FSOC).
Lightbridge Pro is designed for seamless integration into carrier-grade networks, including mobile backhaul and mission-critical infrastructure. By integrating intelligent optical switching directly into the hardware, it automatically reroutes traffic to fiber or RF backups during, for example, heavy fog or rain.
Note 1. Tara says that for the last eight years, they have been developing novel technology that uses beams of light to deliver high-speed, secure connectivity where fiber and wireless can’t – bringing abundant access to everyone, everywhere.
“As demand for data soars, existing connectivity solutions are reaching their limits. What if we could harness the power of light to deliver a better, faster, more efficient connection, without the need for cables?” Mahesh Krishnaswamy, Founder and CEO.
Key Features and Impact:
Carrier-Grade Reliability: Lightbridge Pro is purpose-built for high-availability requirements of 5G mobile backhaul,, and city-wide network providers.
Intelligent Switching: The system ensures seamless, near-instantaneous, switching between optical and backup connections (like RF) to maintain continuity.
Performance: It delivers up to 20 Gbps full-duplex capacity, bridging gaps where fiber installation is too costly or difficult.
Global Application: Already deployed in over 20 countries, the technology is used in dense urban, rural, and disaster recovery scenarios.
Operational Efficiency: The system includes comprehensive Fault, Configuration, Accounting, Performance, and Security (FCAPS) management, suitable for integration with existing Operations and Business Support Systems (OSS/BSS).
Deployment and Use Cases: Tara’s platform is aimed at large-scale network operators and mission-critical communications, particularly in dense urban environments or rough terrain where laying fiber is not economically viable.
Current Partners: Taara Lightbridge is already deployed in more than 20 countries, from dense urban cores to remote terrain to disaster recovery scenarios. Carriers already using Taara’s technology include Airtel, T-Mobile, SoftBank, Digicel, and Liquid Intelligent Technologies. T-Mobile previously deployed Taara units for high-capacity backhaul at Coachella and the Albuquerque Balloon Festival.
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Taara is showcasing these new solutions at Mobile World Congress (MWC) Barcelona 2026 where the start-up will also be announcing a new photonics-based wireless optical system designed for even greater density and scalability.
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Editor’s Analysis:
Taara’s Lightbridge Pro looks like a serious, carrier-minded evolution of free-space optics (FSO) for 5G backhaul, but its real value will hinge on how well the “five nines” claim holds up under diverse atmospheric and operational conditions in the field.
Risks and open questions:
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SLA realism: “Five nines” across mixed optical/RF paths is a strong claim; operators will want multi-year availability data by climate region, plus clear modeling of residual outage during extreme events where both optical and RF paths can degrade.
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Operational complexity: Even with integrated switching and FCAPS, adding a new transport technology introduces planning, monitoring, and skillset overhead versus staying on homogeneous fiber/microwave.
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Regulatory and spectrum: Where RF is the backup, spectrum licensing, interference management, and coordination with existing microwave/E‑band layers will affect total cost and deployment speed, and those aspects are not detailed in the product material.
Overall assessment:
For 5G mobile backhaul, Lightbridge Pro is best viewed as a targeted tool for high-value, hard-to-fiber routes, and for rapid-capacity or temporary deployments, rather than a universal replacement for fiber or microwave. If Taara’s integrated protection switching performs as advertised at scale, it meaningfully advances FSO from “interesting niche” to a credible part of a multi-layer transport strategy for carriers and city-scale operators.
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References:
https://www.taaraconnect.com/post/introducing-lightbridge-pro#
https://www.taaraconnect.com/product/lightbridge-pro
https://www.taaraconnect.com/about
Google X spin-out Taara and Digicomm International partner to offer high speed wireless communications
Dell’Oro: Mobile Core Networks +15% in 2025; Ookla: Global Reality Check on 5G SA and 5G Advanced in 2026
Palo Alto Networks and Google Cloud expand partnership with advanced AI infrastructure and cloud security
Google’s Project Suncatcher: a moonshot project to power ML/AI compute from space
Google Cloud announces TalayLink subsea cable and new connectivity hubs in Thailand and Australia
Dell’Oro: RAN Market Stabilized in 2025 with 1% CAG forecast over next 5 years; Opinion on AI RAN, 5G Advanced, 6G RAN/Core risks
A recently published report from Dell’Oro Group reveals that the Radio Access Network (RAN) market ended the year on a stable note, with stronger than typical 3Q to 4Q seasonality. Fourth-quarter results were consistent with the broader stabilization trend that shaped the RAN market throughout the year, resulting in stable revenue trends for the full year.
“Taking into consideration that the RAN market lost around a fifth of its value between 2022 and 2024, this improved stability in 2025 represents a welcome shift in market conditions,” said Stefan Pongratz, Vice President for RAN market research at the Dell’Oro Group. “Helping to explain the improved sentiment are the more favorable regional mix, easier comparisons, and the weaker USD. Even so, we have not made any material changes to the short-term outlook and still expect the market to be mostly flat in 2026,” continued Pongratz.
Additional highlights from the 4Q 2025 RAN report:
- Revenue rankings did not change in 2025. The top 5 RAN suppliers by worldwide revenue are Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia, ZTE, and Samsung.
- RAN vendor dynamics shifted in 2025—leading vendors strengthened their positions, while smaller suppliers adjusted their strategies. As a result, overall RAN market concentration increased during the year.
- Overall market concentration, as measured by the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index, reached a 10-year high in 2025.
- In 2025, Huawei and Nokia gained ground, Ericsson and Samsung were stable, and ZTE’s RAN revenue share fell.
- The fundamentals that shape the RAN market have not changed, and the long-term trajectory discussed in the most recent 5-year forecast still holds (1% CAGR, 2025-2030).
- The short-term outlook is mostly unchanged, with total RAN expected to remain stable in 2026.
RAN is not a growth market over time (0% CAGR 2020-2025 in nominal US $). However, it can go through periods of higher and lower capital intensity ratios as operators align investment needs with the availability of new spectrum/technologies and demand for capacity. The base case forecast is for stable RAN and capex trends, resulting in further improvements in capital intensity ratios before 6G investments commence towards the end of the forecast period. Worldwide RAN revenue is projected to grow at a 1% CAGR over the next five years, as rapidly declining LTE capex will offset continued 5G and initial 6G investments. RAN as a share of wireless capex is expected to average in the 20 to 25 percentage share range over the forecast period.
Dell’Oro Group’s RAN Quarterly Report offers a complete overview of the RAN industry, with tables covering manufacturers’ and market revenue for multiple RAN segments including 5G NR Sub-7 GHz, 5G NR mmWave, LTE, macro base stations and radios, small cells, Massive MIMO, Open RAN, and vRAN. The report also tracks the RAN market by region and includes a four-quarter outlook. To purchase this report, please contact us by email at [email protected].
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Editors Opinion:
This author believes that the only RAN growth driver over the next 5 years will be investments in 5G SA core networks, which finally is starting to be deployed more than 5G NSA networks as we noted in today’s companion IEEE Techblog post. Omdia forecasts that 5G SA core network software spending will grow at an 8.8% CAGR between 2025 and 2030, making it a primary driver of investment. Continued 5G investments by global telcos are largely being offset by sharply declining 4G-LTE investments, leading to a “stable” rather than a growing RAN market.
Neither AI RAN, 5G Advanced, or Open RAN will be significant RAN market growth drivers:
- 5G Advanced (5G-A): 5G Advanced is widely considered a key part of the roadmap toward 6G. While some operators are focusing on it, its initial impact on overall global RAN revenue is expected to be more incremental rather than a massive boom in the next 2-3 years. If 5G-Advanced is seen by operators as “incremental” and 6G is legally/technically bound to a 2030/2031 ITU-R standards and 3GPP spec finalization, there is very little “must-have” radio hardware for a network operator to buy before 2030 at the earliest.
- AI-RAN: While AI-RAN is viewed as a key tool for improving efficiency and reducing energy costs (operational expenditure), its immediate impact on capital investment (Capex) in RAN equipment is likely to be slower. However, some, like Samsung, argue that AI-RAN is already driving optimizations in 2026. AI-RAN is primarily an OpEx play. Network operators are buying software and specialized silicon to lower their energy bills and automate frequency management. While this is critical for their survival, it doesn’t create a new “coverage wave” of RAN spending. It’s simply a “treading water” investment.
- Open RAN: has not led to increased RAN sales or multi-vendor equipment in the same RAN. Rather, it is a procurement shift, not a market expander.
There may be pockets of RAN growth in 5G-Advanced for specific performance needs, 5G private networks, and AI-enabled efficiency tools. However, we believe that the global RAN market will continue to stagnate till 6G network are deployed in early 2031.
Stefan had forecast that “cumulative 6G RAN investments over the 2029-2034 period are projected to account for 55 to 60% of the total RAN capex over that time period.” However, 6G capex does not translate into 6G RAN revenue until 6G is actually deployed!
Any earlier 6G deployment will be BEFORE the 5G RAN (IMT 2030 RIT/SRITs) and IMT 2030 Frequency arrangements standards are approved by ITU-R in late 2030 or early 2031 as IMT 2030 recommendations. Note that 3GPP Release 21 marks the official start of its normative 6G work. While the specific milestones for Release 21 are to be decided by June 2026, it is widely expected to produce the first formal 6G RAN technical specifications by late 2028 or early 2029 and submit them to ITU-R WP 5D via ATIS. Therefore, any 6G RAN equipment shipped before the 2030 ITU seal of approval would be based on pre-standardized or early 3GPP specifications that may require later alignment and hardware/software updates.
–>No rational wireless network operator wants to deploy thousands of “6G-ready” sites in 2029 only to find that the ITU-R IMT 2030 RIT/SRITs and/or Frequency Arrangements finalized in late 2030 require a hardware filter change or a different sub-carrier spacing to meet global interference requirements.
Hopefully, 3GPP will have finalized its 6G core network specs during the same time period so that 6G RANs will be complemented with 6G core networks- unlike the initial 5G RAN rollouts which had 4G evolved packet cores (5G NSA).
Potential Repeat Problem of No 6G Core Network Standard:
It’s highly likely that 3GPP will once again (like with 5G) not submit their 6G core network specs to ITU-T which is responsible for non-radio aspects of wireless networks. That means that 3GPP effectively operates as a silo for the 6G Core Network (refusing ITU-T oversight),so there will likely be no unified global regulatory mandate for the “6G system” as a whole—only for the “radio” (ITU-R IMT 2030 recommendations). This might allow operators to delay 6G SA Core deployments indefinitely, which in turn kills the business case for buying new 5G-Advanced or AI-RAN hardware.
Google Gemini: If the 6G Core Network isn’t standardized in a way that allows operators to actually monetize these new radio architectures, it doesn’t matter if the RAN is “Open,” “AI-enabled,” or “Advanced.” It’s still just a cost center on a stagnant balance sheet. If the “brain” (6G Core) doesn’t support the “limbs” (6G RAN), the market may not buy the limbs and 6G RAN sales will disappoint, just as 5G RAN sales did. Many carriers are still struggling to recoup the billions spent on 5G deployment so are seriously concerned about the 6G ROI.
| Feature | 5G Challenge | 6G Challenge |
|---|---|---|
| Spectrum | Mid-band & mmWave (24-52 GHz) | Sub-THz & THz (>100 GHz) |
| Connectivity | Massive IoT (1M devices/km²) | Internet of Senses (10M devices/km²) |
| Architecture | Cloud-native | AI-native & “Cell-free” MIMO |
| Primary Goal | Enhanced Mobile Broadband | Convergence of Physical & Digital worlds |
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References:
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7422420902362988544/
6G Capex Ramp to Start Around 2030, According to Dell’Oro Group
Dell’Oro: Mobile Core Networks +15% in 2025; Ookla: Global Reality Check on 5G SA and 5G Advanced in 2026
Dell’Oro: RAN market stable, Mobile Core Network market +14% Y/Y with 72 5G SA core networks deployed
Omdia on resurgence of Huawei: #1 RAN vendor in 3 out of 5 regions; RAN market has bottomed
Dell’Oro Group: RAN Market Grows Outside of China in 2Q 2025
Dell’Oro: AI RAN to account for 1/3 of RAN market by 2029; AI RAN Alliance membership increases but few telcos have joined
Omdia: Huawei increases global RAN market share due to China hegemony
Network equipment vendors increase R&D; shift focus as 0% RAN market growth forecast for next 5 years!
vRAN market disappoints – just like OpenRAN and mobile 5G
Dell’Oro: Mobile Core Networks +15% in 2025; Ookla: Global Reality Check on 5G SA and 5G Advanced in 2026
A recent Dell’Oro market research report estimates that 4G/5G Mobile Core Network (MCN) revenues rose 15% YoY in 2025, which was the fastest growth since 2014. For the first time, the 5G MCN market accounted for 50% share of the total MCN market.
Editor’s Note: The 4G and 5G Non Standalone (NSA) mobile core network market (Evolved Packet Core) is experiencing long-term decline as investments are finally shifting toward 5G standalone (SA) networks.
“In 2025, the MCN market recorded its highest year-over-year revenue growth rate since 2014,” stated Dave Bolan, Research Director at Dell’Oro Group. “This was driven by record-setting growth rates in all market segments: 4G MCN (highest since 2019), 5G MCN (highest since 2022), and Voice Core (highest since 2007). 4G MCN gains came from Caribbean and Latin America (CALA) and Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA) regions; 5G MCN from all regions; and Voice Core, primarily from Asia Pacific and EMEA regions.
“5G MCNs led the way in 2025 growth, as 5G Standalone (5G SA) networks reached an inflection point and moved towards mass market appeal, as more 5G SA networks expand in population coverage in urban, suburban, and rural areas. Voice Core was the next major contributor to growth in 2025, driven by planned 3G MCN shutdowns, which required upgrades from Circuit Switched Core to IMS Core, and IMS Core modernization to a cloud-native IMS Core for VoNR in 5G SA networks. Meanwhile, 4G MCNs expanded due to subscriber growth in Africa and South America,” added Bolan.
Additional highlights from the 4Q 2025 Mobile Core Network and Multi-Access Edge Computing Report include:
- The top four vendors (Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia, and ZTE) posted very strong growth rates in 2025. Collectively, they accounted for about the same amount of market share as in 2024.
- The Multi-access and Edge Computing (MEC) market segment (a subsegment of the 5G MCN market) attained the highest growth rate of any MCN segment in 2025, with the China region remaining the dominant region for MEC implementations.
- Standard-setting bodies, vendors, and Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) communities are collaborating to expand the ecosystem with new products, applications, and monetization features that are expected to deliver future benefits.
- Examples include RedCap radios, which reduce the cost of IoT devices for consumer wearables and industrial applications; network slicing for both mission-critical and on-demand applications; IMS data channels to increase monetization opportunities and enhance user experience; and Open APIs that enable developers to scale their applications across all MNOs, attracting the app development community.
- Agentic AI is expected to change data traffic patterns and alter the duration that subscribers remain connected to the network as agents operate on their behalf. This could represent a paradigm shift in the future, requiring increased MCN capacity, expanded vendor opportunities, and enhanced monetization for MNOs through pricing tiers.
The Dell’Oro Group Mobile Core Network & Multi-Access Edge Computing Quarterly Report offers complete, in-depth coverage of the market with tables covering manufacturers’ revenue, shipments, and average selling prices for Traditional Packet Core, Evolved Packet Core, 5G Packet Core, Policy, Subscriber Data Management, Signaling, Circuit Switched Core, and IMS Core by geographic regions. To purchase this report, please contact us at [email protected].
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Related: The second edition of Ookla and Omdia’s report on the global state of 5G Standalone core network confirms that the technology has moved beyond launch announcements into an execution-driven phase. By the close of 2025, the “coverage gap” between major economic blocs had narrowed, but a more consequential “capability gap” has emerged, reflecting divergent spectrum strategies, investment depth, and the extent to which operators have moved beyond baseline SA deployment toward end-to-end network optimization.
For government and regulatory bodies, 5G Standalone (SA) has evolved into a high-stakes strategic imperative. The intersection of national competitiveness, digital sovereignty, and AI readiness is fundamentally reshaping Capex priorities across Tier-1 markets.
- User Equipment (UE) Performance: Impact of 5G SA on battery life and the transition to Voice over New Radio (VoNR).
- Application-Layer QoE: Benchmarking latency and jitter for cloud-native and gaming infrastructure.
- Commercial Monetization: A review of the first commercial deployments of Network Slicing, Enterprise SLAs, and 5G-Advanced (Release 18) segmentation.
- Geopolitical Drivers: Assessing how sovereign AI strategies in the GCC and legislative shifts in Europe are dictating the global SA evolutionary path.
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5G Core network investment is accelerating as monetization transitions from concept to selective execution:
Omdia’s latest forecasts confirm the industry’s shift toward software-defined core capability as the primary driver of next-cycle investment. Global 5G SA core network software spending is projected to grow at an 8.8% CAGR between 2025 and 2030, with EMEA leading at 16.7%, significantly outpacing North America (5.5%) and Asia & Oceania (4.2%). This reflects EMEA’s later position in the deployment cycle, as the region is entering its period of peak 5G core adoption, while North America’s 5G core spending trajectory is expected to have peaked in 2025 following the commercial launches by AT&T and Verizon. By end of Q3 2025, 83 operators worldwide had deployed 5G core networks, with 5G core investment accounting for 63.6% of global core network function software spending.
5G Core Investment Accelerates Across Regions:
- 5G SA availability based on Speedtest® sample share reached 17.6% in Q4 2025, up modestly from 16.2% a year earlier, indicating that roughly one in six 5G Speedtests worldwide now occurs on a 5G standalone network. The headline global median SA download speed of 269.51 Mbps represents a 52% premium over non-standalone networks, though this figure masks significant regional variation driven by spectrum allocation depth, carrier aggregation maturity, and user-plane engineering.
- Asia leads in 5G availability: China continues to dominate with 80.9% 5G SA sample share and over 10 million 5G Advanced subscribers.
- Globally, 5G SA connections delivered a 52% download speed premium to 5G NSA (mostly an artifact of rich spectrum allocation and lower network load) and improved median multi-server latency by over 6% compared to NSA. However, this year’s report finds that a standalone core migration alone does not guarantee a better end-user experience. Quality of experience analysis reveals a nuanced picture: SA improves video and cloud infrastructure latency in Europe versus NSA, but underperforms NSA for gaming latency within the same region. North America records the lowest absolute SA cloud and gaming latency, consistent with dense hyperscaler adjacency and mature interconnect ecosystems.
- The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) was the global 5G SA performance leader, with the UAE setting the speed benchmark Led by e& and du’s aggressive 5G Advanced deployments, the delivered the world’s fastest 5G SA median download speeds in Q4 2025 at 1.13 Gbps, nearly five times that of Europe. The UAE alone reached a median of 1.24 Gbps on SA networks, a speed that would be considered exceptional even for full-fiber broadband in developed markets. The deployment of four-carrier aggregation and enhanced MIMO technology, coupled with the strategic allocation of premium mid-band spectrum to the SA network, demonstrates the performance ceiling that a fully realized 5G SA architecture can achieve.
- South Korea followed at 767 Mbps, driven by wide 3.5 GHz channel bandwidth, with the U.S. at 404 Mbps following the completion of nationwide SA deployments by all three Tier-1 operators. Europe, at 205 Mbps, trails all developed regions, though the region’s SA networks still deliver a 45% download speed premium over NSA, confirming the performance value of the SA transition where material spectrum depth is allocated.
Europe’s 5G SA sample share more than doubled from 1.1% to 2.8% between Q4 2024 and Q4 2025, driven by accelerated deployments in Austria (8.7%), Spain (8.3%), the United Kingdom (7.0%), and France (5.9%). These four markets now account for the vast majority of European SA connections. The United Kingdom and France registered the strongest year-on-year acceleration in Europe, each gaining 5.3 percentage points, reflecting the impact of investment-linked merger conditions and competition in the United Kingdom, as well as targeted R&D policy support in France.
Among European markets, France (41ms to cloud endpoints), Austria (48ms), and Finland (50ms) demonstrate what is achievable where backbone quality, peering density, and routing discipline are strong. These outcomes reflect an underappreciated end-to-end network stack optimization dividend, encompassing data-center proximity, fiber backhaul depth, and user-plane topology, rather than a pure “SA dividend” alone.
However, Europe still trails North America by 27% and emerging Asia by 30%. At the global level, the U.S. remains the largest accelerator in absolute terms over the last year, with SA sample share rising 8.2 percentage points to 31.6% year-on-year, driven by the sequential rollout of SA across all Tier-1 operators beyond T-Mobile. Firmware fragmentation, where handset OEMs gatekeep SA network access pending individual carrier certification, and tariff structures that fail to incentivize migration from NSA, remain the primary barriers to faster European adoption.
The report also presents early evidence that battery life is a tangible consumer benefit of 5G SA. In the UK, devices on EE’s 5G SA network recorded median discharge times approximately 22% longer than those on 5G NSA, with O2 showing an 11% advantage. These gains likely stem from features like SA’s unified control plane, which eliminates the dual-connectivity overhead of NSA configurations.
Consumer strategies now span speed tiers (primarily Europe), 5G network slicing (Singapore, France, and the U.S.), and 5G Advanced segmentation packages (China). Enterprise 5G network slicing presents the much larger long-term revenue opportunity, with T-Mobile’s SuperMobile representing the first nationwide commercial B2B slicing service in the U.S. Countries with coordinated regulatory frameworks, implementing clear coverage obligations, investment incentives, or infrastructure consolidation policies with deployment remedies, consistently outperform those with fragmented or reactive approaches, reinforcing the report’s finding that policy has emerged as a primary competitive differentiator in 5G SA outcomes globally.
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References:
MCN Market Roared Back in 2025 With 15 Percent Growth, According to Dell’Oro Group
https://www.ookla.com/articles/5g-sa-2026
Dell’Oro: RAN market stable, Mobile Core Network market +14% Y/Y with 72 5G SA core networks deployed
AT&T deploys nationwide 5G SA while Verizon lags and T-Mobile leads
Ericsson CEO’s strong statements on 5G SA, WRC 27, and AI in networks
Ookla: Uneven 5G deployment in Europe, 5G SA remains sluggish; Ofcom: 28% of UK connections on 5G with only 2% 5G SA
Ericsson reports ~flat 2Q-2025 results; sees potential for 5G SA and AI to drive growth
Téral Research: 5G SA core network deployments accelerate after a very slow start
Google Fiber and Nokia demo network slicing for home broadband in GFiber Labs
Analysts: Telco CAPEX crash looks to continue: mobile core network, RAN, and optical all expected to decline
Global 5G Market Snapshot; Dell’Oro and GSA Updates on 5G SA networks and devices
Dell’Oro: Mobile Core Network market has lowest growth rate since 4Q 2017
ITU-R M.[IMT-2030.EVAL] & ITU-R M.[IMT-2030.SUBMISSION] reports: Evaluation & Submission Guidelines for 6G RIT/SRITs (6G)
Backgrounder:
As stated for years in IEEE Techblog posts, ITU-R Working Party 5D (WP 5D) is responsible for all International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) terrestrial radio interface technology (RIT/SRIT) reports and standards, e.g. 3G, 4G, 5G (IMT 2020) and 6G (IMT 2030).
5D has developed the minimum technical performance requirements and the evaluation criteria for IMT 2020 (5G) and will do so now for IMT 2030 (6G) along with other reports and standards described in this article
While any ITU member can propose IMT 2030 RIT/SRIT candidate standards, it is expected that they will principally come from 3GPP which contributes their specs to 5D via ATIS.
Standards for the non-radio aspects of 5G (e.g. core network, security, network slicing, etc) and 6G were supposed to be promulgated by ITU-T, but 3GPP (which develops those specifications) years ago decided NOT to liaise their specs with ITU-T.
–>Please see References at the bottom of this article for more information.
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ITU-R M.[IMT-2030.EVAL] – 6G RIT/SRIT Evaluation Criteria:
The 5D WG Technology aspects/SWG Evaluation is working on a report which will provide guidelines for the procedure, the methodology and the criteria (technical, spectrum and service) to be used in evaluating the candidate IMT-2030 radio interface technologies (RITs) or Set of RITs (SRITs) for a number of test environments. These test environments are chosen to closely simulate more stringent radio operating environments.
The evaluation procedure is designed in such a way that the overall performance of the candidate RITs/SRITs may be fairly and equally assessed on a technical basis. It ensures that the overall IMT-2030 objectives are met. This Report provides, for proponents, developers of candidate RITs/SRITs and independent evaluation groups, the common evaluation methodology and evaluation configurations to evaluate the candidate RITs/SRITs and system aspects impacting the radio performance.
–>This report is scheduled to be finalized at the WP 5D Meeting No. 52 (Geneva, 27 May-5 June 2026).
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ITU-R M.[IMT-2030.SUBMISSION] – 6G RIT/SRIT Submission Guidelines:
The draft new 5D Report ITU-R M.[IMT-2030.SUBMISSION], originating from the 5D July 2025 meeting, defines the submission guidelines, templates, and evaluation methodology for 6G Radio Interface Technologies (RITs/SRITs). The report focuses on enabling technology proposals for IMT-2030 which are to be submitted from February 2027 to February 2029 for 5D evaluation and approval.
- Submission & Evaluation Guidelines: The report serves as the official guide for submitting candidate Radio Interface Technologies (RITs) or Sets of Radio Interface Technologies (SRITs) for IMT-2030.
- Structure: It is modeled after earlier reports like M.2411 (for 5G), defining the evaluation criteria, procedures, and templates for 6G technologies.
- Technical Requirements: It outlines minimum performance requirements (MPRs) for 6G, including advanced capabilities like artificial intelligence, energy efficiency, and joint requirements.
- Timeline: The report is central to the 2027-2030 timeline, aiming for the first submissions at the 54th WP 5D meeting (Feb 2027) and final submission by early 2029.
- Context: It aligns with the ITU-R M.2160 framework (the “6G Vision”), which encompasses six usage scenarios: immersive communication, hyper-reliable low-latency communication, massive communication, ubiquitous connectivity, AI-integrated communication, and integrated sensing and communication.
WP 5D Workplan for IMT 2030 RIT/SRITs:
As previously noted, 5D will accept and evaluate IMT 2030 candidate RIT/SRIT submissions starting at 54th meeting of WP 5D, currently planned for February 2027. The final deadline for submissions is 12 calendar days prior to the start of the 59th meeting of WP 5D in February 2029. The evaluation of the proposed RITs/SRITs by the independent evaluation groups and the consensus-building process will be performed throughout this two year time period and thereafter. Subsequent calendar schedules will be decided according to the submissions of proposals to 5D.
WP 5D meetings in 2030 will focus on the final stages of evaluating, adopting, and approving 6G technology submissions, aiming for approval of the final IMT-2030 recommendation in late 2030. The 5D tentative meeting schedule for 2030:
- Meeting No. 62 (February 2030): 1 Finalize Addendum 6 to Circular Letter taking into account the draft new Report ITU-R M.[IMT-2030. OUTCOME]. 2 Review and update the work plan, if necessary.
- Meeting No. 63 (June 2030): 1 Develop and finalize Addendum 7 to Circular Letter taking into account completion of the draft new Recommendation ITU-R M.[IMT 2030.SPECS].
- Meeting No. 63 (October 2030): Finalize standards before potential approval by ITU-R SG 5 in November 2030 or early 2031.
References:
ITU-R WP 5D Meeting Reports (TIES access required)
https://www.itu.int/en/events/Pages/Calendar-Events.aspx?sector=ITU-R&group=R23-WP5D
https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-R/study-groups/rsg5/rwp5d/imt-2030/pages/default.aspx
https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-R/study-groups/rsg5/rwp5d/imt-2030/Pages/submission-eval.aspx
Roles of 3GPP and ITU-R WP 5D in the IMT 2030/6G standards process
ITU-R WP 5D Timeline for submission, evaluation process & consensus building for IMT-2030 (6G) RITs/SRITs
ITU-R WP5D IMT 2030 Submission & Evaluation Guidelines vs 6G specs in 3GPP Release 20 & 21
Highlights of 3GPP Stage 1 Workshop on IMT 2030 (6G) Use Cases
ITU-R WP 5D reports on: IMT-2030 (“6G”) Minimum Technology Performance Requirements; Evaluation Criteria & Methodology
ITU-R: IMT-2030 (6G) Backgrounder and Envisioned Capabilities
Verizon’s 6G Innovation Forum joins a crowded list of 6G efforts that may conflict with 3GPP and ITU-R IMT-2030 work
Ericsson and e& (UAE) sign MoU for 6G collaboration vs ITU-R IMT-2030 framework
ITU-R WP5D invites IMT-2030 RIT/SRIT contributions
NGMN issues ITU-R framework for IMT-2030 vs ITU-R WP5D Timeline for RIT/SRIT Standardization
IMT-2030 Technical Performance Requirements (TPR) from ITU-R WP5D
Should Peak Data Rates be specified for 5G (IMT 2020) and 6G (IMT 2030) networks?
China vs U.S.: Race to Generate Power for AI Data Centers as Electricity Demand Soars
The International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts that in the next five years, the global demand for power (electricity) is set to grow roughly 50% faster than it did during the previous decade – and more than twice as fast as energy demand overall. That tremendous increase in demand is due to power hungry AI data centers. There’s also electric cars and buses, electric-powered industrial machines, and electric heating of homes.
Global AI growth will be contingent on generating more power for data centers:
- Global data center power demand is now expected to rise to a record 1,596 terawatt-hours by 2035 – +255% increase from 2025 levels.
- The U.S. is set to remain the leader in energy consumption with a +144% surge in demand over this period, to 430 terawatt-hours.
- China’s demand is projected to rise +255%, to 397 terawatt-hours.
- European demand is expected to surge +303%, to 274 terawatt-hours.
- New data centers coming online between now and 2030 will need more than 600 terawatt-hours of electricity. This is enough to power ~60 million homes.
Power for AI Data Centers: China vs U.S.:
China is currently ahead of the United States in generating and building out power infrastructure to support AI data centers, a phenomenon sometimes described by industry observers as an “electron gap.”
China’s rapid, centralized expansion of electricity generation—including both massive renewable projects and traditional, dispatchable power—has created a significant capacity advantage in the race to support AI workloads, which are increasingly limited by energy availability rather than just chip access.
Key factors in China’s power advantage for AI include:
Massive Generation Growth: Between 2010 and 2024, China’s power production increased by more than the rest of the world combined. In 2024 alone, China added 543 gigawatts of power capacity—more than the total capacity added by the U.S. in its entire history.
Significant Surplus Capacity: By 2030, China is projected to have roughly 400 gigawatts of spare power capacity, which is triple the expected power demand of the global data center fleet at that time.
“Eastern Data, Western Computing” Initiative: China is actively shifting energy-intensive data centers to its resource-rich western regions (like Inner Mongolia) while powering them with surplus renewable energy, such as wind and solar.
Lower Costs and Faster Buildouts: Data centers in China can pay less than half the rates for electricity that American data centers do. Furthermore, projects in China can move from planning to operation in months, compared to years in the U.S. due to faster permitting and fewer regulatory hurdles.
Conclusions:
While the U.S. currently leads in advanced AI chips and model development, it is facing a severe “energy bottleneck” for new data centers, with some requiring over a gigawatt of power. U.S. power demand has remained relatively flat for 20 years, resulting in a lag in building new capacity, whereas China has traditionally built power infrastructure in anticipation of high demand. Morgan Stanley has forecast that U.S. data centers could face a 44-gigawatt electricity shortfall in the next three years.
Despite China’s advantage in energy, U.S. export controls on high-end AI chips (such as Nvidia’s GPUs) have acted as a significant constraint on China’s actual AI compute power. This has led to a situation where the U.S. has the best “brains” (chips) but limited power to run them, while China has the “muscle” (energy) but limited access to top-tier AI brains.
However, the rapid improvements in Chinese AI models (such as DeepSeek), which are more energy-efficient and optimized for lower-tier hardware, may help mitigate this constraint.
References:
https://www.iea.org/reports/electricity-2026
https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2023437717888250284
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