Mobile & Wireless Roundup No. 139

Welcome to the 139th edition of this newsletter. Analysing technologies and trends involves more than just data. It also requires an understanding of patterns, historical context and comparisons with developments in other industries. Alongside that, there is an element of art involved, and sometimes, luck plays a bigger role than we would like to admit.

Sometimes we get it right, sometimes we are slightly off, and sometimes we are completely wrong. That is part of the job. We leave our past predictions visible as a reminder of where we may have missed the mark. It is not only individuals who make mistakes. Organisations can also get things wrong, whether unintentionally or through selective omission.

Recently, I have noticed a trend of quietly removing old forecasts and predictions. This can lead to confusion, especially when links stop working or companies change their names entirely to distance themselves from previous claims. While it is not difficult to remove such information from the internet, traces usually remain. These can be found in archived blog posts, social media updates or through the often reliable Wayback Machine.

The important thing is to reflect on why a prediction went wrong. We need to look at the assumptions behind it and find ways to avoid repeating the same mistakes. Some of these errors may be honest misjudgements. Others might be more deliberate, particularly when there is pressure to sell reports or keep investment flowing in a direction that no longer makes sense.

In the end, history does not disappear just because it is inconvenient. The internet never forgets, and neither should we.

For those of you who don’t know me, I am a technologist with over 25 years’ experience in mobile wireless technology, currently working as an independent advisor, analyst, consultant and a trainer. This newsletter is a summary of my posts and other news that caught my attention since the last newsletter.

⦿ 6G

• ICYMI - 3GPP and O-RAN ALLIANCE Discuss 6G Coordination (link)

• Light Reading: 6G, like 5G, may turn out to be a boring necessity (link)

• Keysight - 6G Readiness: Technology Insights for Tomorrow (link)

• Free 6G Training: Japan Leads with Comprehensive 6G Technology Roadmaps (link)

 ⦿ 5G

• BBC Northern Ireland: Frustration for residents as phone signal buckles after 5G mast arsons (link)

⦿ Open & Disaggregated Networks (including Open RAN, vRAN, etc.)

• Telecoms.com: Open RAN touches down in Vietnam (link)

⦿ Spectrum

• News18: How Did An Australian Warship Block The Internet Across New Zealand Overnight? (link)

⦿ Private Networks

• Private Networks Technology Blog: Private 5G Use Cases Driving Digital Transformation at Airbus (link)

• Fierce Network: The exploding world of private network startups (link)

• Private Networks Technology Blog: Powering Small Enterprise Private 5G with the EXSITE-M5Q Plus (link)

⦿ Telecoms Infrastructure, Small Cells, Antennas & others

• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: Viettel’s Growing Influence in 5G, Private Networks and Open RAN (link)

• RCR Wireless: LG Uplus unveils liquid cooling demo room for AI DCs (link)

• Paul Rhodes on LinkedIn - Monday Musings: A Lamppost Only a Mother Could Love?? (link)

⦿ IoT / M2M / Smart Homes

• Afzal Mangal on LinkedIn: "Another weak excuse that many of us use to explain slow IoT adoption: fragmentation…" (link)

• Open Journal of Internet of Things: Automatic Identification and Classification of IoT Devices in Computer Networks – An Overview of Opportunities and Challenges (PDF)

⦿ Security & Privacy

• Denis Laskov on LinkedIn: "Shut down your device while charging: New USB vulnerabilities allow access to or deletion of files from your locked phone…" (link)

⦿ Connected And Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs)

• Denis Laskov on LinkedIn: "28 different crime threats that Connected or Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) can be used for: a UK police briefing you may find interesting…" (link)

⦿ Smartphones, Devices, Wearables & Gadgets

• Allan T. Rasmussen on LinkedIn: Inside a phone smuggled out of North Korea (link)

• Light Reading: Smartphone market slows to a crawl with tariffs, inflation – report (link)

⦿ AI, ML & Automation

• FutureNet MENA Keynote Panel: The Future Telco: Beyond Connectivity to Network Capabilities & Features (link)

⦿ Other News and Technology Stuff

• Presentations from MIC MRA International Workshop 2025 in Japan (link)

• An Introduction to OSS/BSS in Mobile Networks (link)

⦿ Picture of the week: Kyoto's alleys and base stations shared by @denpa893 on an X post.

Happy to hear your thoughts. Feel free let me know what worked, what didn’t, how I can make this better, etc. Get in touch over LinkedIn!

PDF version of this and previous newsletters are available here.