Mobile & Wireless Roundup No. 145

Welcome to the 145th edition of this newsletter. Afzal Mangal recently shared an interesting story that resonated strongly across the IoT and digital transformation space. It was about a farmer who was offered a free IoT solution that could save him time, reduce costs and improve his harvests. He showed initial interest but eventually dropped out. Not because the business case was weak, but because it was new. There was no sense of urgency. No fear of missing out (FOMO).

This is not too different from how Skype and other video calling platforms were available long before the pandemic. They could have enabled easier online collaboration and supported more widespread remote working. Yet it was not until the Covid-19 pandemic forced an urgent need for digital transformation that remote working became mainstream, with a surge in collaboration tools and platforms.

Coming back to Afzal’s post, even when the benefits are clear, many customers only take action when they feel they might be left behind.

Another parallel that comes to mind is the current state of private networks, especially private 5G. The similarities are striking. We talk about low latency, high reliability and long-term value. We highlight use cases from manufacturing plants, warehouses and ports. But for many organisations, especially smaller businesses, the technology still feels unfamiliar. The terminology can be confusing, and the benefits may not feel urgent enough. Just like in Afzal’s example, even a free pilot is not always enough to prompt action.

This is why raising awareness and building trust are just as important as the technology itself. We need more than early adopters. We need evangelists, clear success stories and visible examples that show what is possible. Only then will the value of technologies like IoT and private 5G feel real and immediate, rather than distant and optional.

 These technologies are ready. The question is whether the market is ready to move with them.

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

• Building the Low Altitude Economy (LAE) with 5G Advanced and 6G (link)

• Emil Björnson on LinkedIn: "I have bought a reconfigurable intelligent surface and explored how it can be used in practice to improve the coverage of mmWave signals. Here is a new video where I explain the fundamentals and demonstrate them experimentally…" (link)

• Free 6G Training: Towards Intelligent Robotics with Foundation Models, 6G and MELISAC (link)

⦿ 5G

• MWL: BT slices 5G for SailGP UK event (link)

⦿ 4G/LTE

• Chris Cockings on LinkedIn - Field Testing: How LTE eDRX works - real-world idle mode testing (link)

• NTT Technical Review, July 2025: Standardization of Codec for Immersive Voice and Audio Services (IVAS) at 3GPP (link)

• Chris Cockings on LinkedIn - Field Testing: How LTE Paging works - what we see in the field (link)

⦿ 2G/3G

• "Bite Latvija" continues 3G shutdown (PR in Latvian) – 2G will still be around (link in Latvian)

• MobileSyrup: Hundreds of phones won’t work on Rogers’ network without 3G (link)

⦿ Spectrum

• Telecoms.com: Ofcom cuts annual spectrum license fees by £60 million (link)

⦿ Private Networks

• Global Private 5G Network Market Forecast 2025 (link)

• RCR Wireless: A Turkish first – Opticoms deploys private 5G at Istanbul Expo Center (link)

⦿ Telecoms Infrastructure, Small Cells, Antennas & others

• Revolutionizing connectivity: The Strategic Advantage of Neutral Host Providers in Telecom Evolution (link)

• Paul Rhodes on LinkedIn - Thursday School: It’s all about the RA…SCI! (link)

• TechCentral: Huawei launches next-gen fibre-to-the-room solution (link)

• Paul Rhodes on LinkedIn - Monday Musings: Not Taking Liberty’s with Mobile Capacity! (link)

• Mobile UK Report - Investment in Mobile Infrastructure: The UK’s Route to Growth (link)

• Peter Clarke on LinkedIn - Gigabit 5G in time for tee: Virgin Media O2 delivers a win for the 153rd Open Championship at the Royal Portrush Golf Club (link)

⦿ IoT / M2M / Smart Homes

• RCR Wireless: AT&T intros nationwide 5G RedCap for mid-tier IoT in the US (link) – AT&T Blog post here.

⦿ Security & Privacy

• ENISA: Telecom Security Incidents 2024 (link)

• Denis Laskov on LinkedIn: Critical chain of vulnerabilities in the Bluetooth stack enables 1-click RCE (remote code execution) on German cars (link)

⦿ Smartphones, Devices, Wearables & Gadgets

• MWL: Huawei takes back China smartphone lead (link)

⦿ Satellites, HAPS, Drones, UAVs & Space

• Rogers Launches Satellite-to-Mobile Service in Canada (PR)

• Starlink Network Update (link)

• Philippe Poggianti on LinkedIn: The great gig in the sky… under the radar (link)

⦿ Wi-Fi

• Giovanni Geraci on LinkedIn: Last year, Wi-Fi turned 25. To mark the occasion, we set out to write an illustrated tutorial (link)

⦿ Sustainability

• GSMA Community Webinar - The Net Zero Transition: The impact of 5G-Advanced on energy efficiency in enterprise markets (link)

• Telefónica Germany: Electricity from German coasts powers the mobile network (PR)

• Vodafone Germany: Iberdrola's first solar park in Germany supplies Vodafone's mobile network (PR in German)

⦿ Other News and Technology Stuff

• MWL: Apple agrees $500M rare earth magnets deal (link)

• Semafor: Saudi considers NEOM job cuts, relocations amid cost pressures (link)

• MWL: Japanese car industry bolsters factory robot population (link)

⦿ Picture of the week: Matt Hatton recently shared a fascinating photo on his LinkedIn post of what is believed to be the northernmost mobile base station in the world, located at Ny Alesund in Svalbard. This base station serves the research community in the area and stands as a quiet reminder of how far mobile connectivity reaches. Matt captured the image during a brief stop on a ten day kayaking trip, also sharing pictures of the nearby historic telegraph station.

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.