Welcome to the 167th edition of the Mobile and Wireless Newsletter. After a very busy few months, I have finally wrapped up most of my deliverables around MWC. It is always a pleasure working with the large consultancies, who now take ownership of the white papers, solution briefs, reports, strategies and other decks I have been involved in, and pass them on to their clients. As expected, this year looks set to be another one dominated by AI, not just at MWC but almost everywhere else too.

Later this year, I fully expect to see food products whose recipes were designed by AI, cereals optimised by AI, and even fish raised on AI-designed diets to maximise taste or health benefits. At friends’ and family gatherings, it is already common to hear about a new recipe that was supposedly created by AI, which usually means Copilot or ChatGPT suggested something based on a prompt. While AI is undoubtedly useful and can help solve many different problems, there are still plenty of fundamental issues that cannot be addressed by AI alone.

One example comes from work I am currently involved in around connectivity for utilities in the UK, as 2G, 3G and the PSTN continue to be switched off. Everything works seamlessly today, but once 2G disappears, many legacy telemetry devices, IoT systems and SCADA equipment will simply stop functioning. The impact is not abstract. It can directly affect people’s ability to receive reliable electricity, gas or water services.

Another project focuses on keeping passengers connected on trains. This may sound like an easy problem to solve, but in reality it involves careful trade-offs between cost, technology choices and the long-term lifespan of the solution. If time, effort and money are being invested now, future requirements need to be considered upfront rather than treated as an afterthought.

AI may eventually play a role in addressing these challenges, but only once the basics are in place. Robust, resilient connectivity still has to come first.

For those of you who may be new here, I am a technologist with over 25 years’ experience in mobile and wireless technologies, currently working as an independent advisor, analyst, consultant and trainer. This newsletter brings together my recent posts along with other news and developments that have caught my attention since the last edition.

⦿ 6G

  • Multi-Radio Spectrum Sharing (MRSS) and/or Dual-Stack for Initial 6G Rollouts (link)

  • Free 6G Training: India’s 6G Journey and the Role of the Bharat 6G Alliance (link)

  • Free 6G Training: The Journey from mMIMO in 5G towards gMIMO in 6G (link)

  • China Daily: China has completed the first phase of its 6G technology trials and accumulated a reserve of more than 300 key technologies according to MIIT (link)

⦿ 5G

  • The Evolution of 3GPP 5G Network Slice and Service Types (SSTs) (link)

  • Huawei Blog - From Connectivity to Capability: How 5G FWA is Powering National Digital Transformation (link)

  • Light Reading: Can India run 'entirely on 5G' by end of 2026? (link)

  • Nick vs Networking: Stupid Mistakes – New UPF and IMS (link)

  • MWL: Bouygues outlines plan for 5G healthcare project (link)

  • Mohamed Abbas on LinkedIn - 5QI vs. QCI: The Silent Revolution in the RAN (link)

⦿ 4G/LTE

Chris Cockings on LinkedIn - Field Testing: UE Capability – CAT-M vs NB-IoT (link)

Henrik N. on LinkedIn: "Telefónica Germany, Deutsche Telekom & Vodafone now finally support eCall over IMS across the board. The "eCallOverIMS-Support-r14" flag in SIB1 is now set. This informs UEs that emergency calls can be established via IP-based IMS, with critical data such as location information and crash details sent directly to the counterparty via SIP INVITE…" (link)

Chris Cockings on LinkedIn - Field Testing: UE Capability – NB-IoT Edition (link)

⦿ 2G/3G

  • One NZ says goodbye to 3G, with Dunedin first to move on (PR) – they are switching off 2G & 3G together as explained on the LinkedIn post here and the shutdown page here.

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

  • Light Reading: NEC retreat from 5G looks like another big blow to open RAN (link)

⦿ Spectrum

  • SDxCentral: US to make devices smarter again with 6 GHz power up (link)

  • RCR Wireless: Ofcom maps out split-priority approach for upper 6 GHz band (link)

  • Light Reading: Vodafone puts money where mouth is with $15M Cohere investment (link)

⦿ Private Networks

  • Private Networks Technology Blog: Private 5G at Paderborn Lippstadt Airport Shows What Is Possible Beyond Major Hubs (link)

  • Private Networks Technology Blog: South Korea reaches milestone of 100 Private 5G networks (link)

⦿ Telecoms Infrastructure, Small Cells, Antennas & others

  • Total Telecom: NTT DATA leads consortium to launch $1bn Intra-Asia Marine Cable (link)

  • MWL Feature: Making connections on the London Underground (link)

  • IEEE Spectrum: Radio Cables to Boost Data Center Efficiency - Radio and terahertz links could be better, faster, and cheaper (link)

  • Paul Rhodes on LinkedIn - Sunday School : The Colossus of Bludsdon! (link)

⦿ IoT / M2M / Smart Homes

  • MWL: Satellite IoT revenue to top $6B (link)

  • Skylo’s Work on Making NB-NTN Voice a Reality (link)

  • Matt Hatton on LinkedIn: "New blog post from me about the trend towards more 'localisation' (of many types) in the delivery of cellular-based IoT connectivity, encompassing trends like increasing regulation, the need for distributed infrastructure, and the growing use of remote SIM provisioning…" (link)

  • Afzal Mangal on LinkedIn: Vodafone is an authority in IoT connectivity and that's why they can afford lazy marketing (link)

⦿ Virtualization, Cloud & Edge

  • RCR Wireless: Samsung completes first commercial call using vRAN (link) – Samsung PR here.

  • TMN: Samsung proves latest Intel vRAN chip for single server vRAN (link)

⦿ Security & Privacy

  • Denis Laskov on LinkedIn - Hacking an Emergency Alert System to fake an earthquake: Stop a city with a single packet (link)

  • NCSC: Cyber Essentials Supply Chain Playbook (link)

  • Denis Laskov on LinkedIn - How to hack a Tesla into being "connected" with no internet: LTE attacks on connected cars (link)

  • CommsRisk: South Korea’s Biggest Telco Blocked Over a Billion Calls and SMS Messages in 2025 (link)

  • Dmitry Kurbatov on LinkedIn: How Could an AWS CI Bug Break a Telco? (link)

  • ETSI releases world-leading standard for securing AI (PR)

  • Denis Laskov on LinkedIn - Satellite communications: networks, protocols, products, and security issues hackers must know about (link)

  • The Commsrisk Review of 2025 (link)

  • Dmitry Kurbatov on LinkedIn: Private 5G + Space: Secure or Exposed? (link)

  • The 3G4G Blog: Telecom Security Realities from 2025 and Lessons for 2026 (link)

⦿ Connected And Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs)

  • C21-Virtual: Future Transport Connection (link)

⦿ Smartphones, Devices, Wearables & Gadgets

  • Worldwide Smartphone Market Grows 2.3% in Q4 2025, Driven by Strong Performances from Samsung and Apple, according to IDC (PR)

  • Omdia: Global smartphone market grew 4% in 4Q25 as Apple leads the market for the third consecutive year (PR)

  • CNET: Apple's Next Big Wearable Could Be an AirTag-Sized AI Pin (link)

  • Michael Thelander on LinkedIn: "The following observations on AR- and AI-generated traffic, including the use of Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses, may seem a bit controversial, but since they are based on empirical data that I collected for our most recent Signals Ahead report, they are definitely food for thought…" (link)

⦿ AI, ML & Automation

  • Simon Dredge on LinkedIn: An AI Obsession Meets My Unhealthy Infatuation With Industry Associations (link)

  • FutureNet Insights: Four practical strategies to accelerate Autonomous Operations journey (link)

  • Inderpreet Kaur on LinkedIn: Agentic AI for Autonomous Networks (link)

  • Verizon and Cambridge Consultants white paper - Beyond connectivity: A vision for the future of AI-powered networks (link)

  • Operator Watch Blog: Automation and Data Driven Network Optimization in Swisscom’s Mobile Strategy (link)

⦿ Satellites, HAPS, Drones, UAVs & Space

  • AST SpaceMobile Announces Successful Orbital Launch of BlueBird 6, the Largest Commercial Communications Array Ever Deployed in Low Earth Orbit (PR)

  • Space News: China files ITU paperwork for megaconstellations totaling nearly 200,000 satellites (link)

  • Frank Rayal on LinkedIn: "Direct-to-device LEO operators are lowering orbital altitudes and increasing size of satellites and antennas to hit performance targets and rising demand for power, a trend that carries clear implications for the LEO business case…" (link)

  • Tom’s Hardware: FCC approves 7,500 additional Starlink Gen2 satellites — service will benefit from higher throughput and lower latency worldwide (link)

  • VEON’s Kyivstar Reaches 3.0 million Customers with Starlink Direct to Cell Services (PR)

  • On-Air Trials Underway: Iridium NTN Direct Prepares to Enter Beta as Testing Continues (PR)

⦿ Wi-Fi

  • RCR Wireless: Three Wi-Fi 8 features dependent on 6 GHz (link)

  • RCR Wireless: From trials to scale — Wi-Fi HaLow is finally finding its moment (link)

⦿ Quantum Networks & Technology

  • ASD - Quantum technology primer: Overview (link)

⦿ Sustainability

  • Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: Powering Vodafone’s Mobile Network with Solar Energy in Germany (link)

⦿ Other News and Technology Stuff

  • Juniper Research Unveils Top 10 Emerging Tech Trends to Watch in 2026 (PR)

  • RCR Tech: Meta aggressively enters AI arms race with ‘Meta Compute,’ new president, massive nuclear deals (link)

  • Developing Telecoms: 16 satellites lost after India’s latest PSLV launch fails (link)

  • Rudolf van der Berg on LinkedIn: The Digital Networks Act uses digital sustainability as the axe to cut net neutrality and IP-interconnection (link)

  • William Webb on LinkedIn: Australia data growth numbers (link)

  • Financial Content - The $1 Trillion Milestone: AI Demand Drives Semiconductor Industry to Historic 2026 Giga-Cycle (link)

  • Telecom TV: EC’s Digital Networks Act re-lights fair share fuse (link)

  • Blue Origin Introduces TeraWave, a 6 Tbps Space-Based Network for Global Connectivity (PR)

⦿ Picture of the week: At the Hubei Shishou Milu National Nature Reserve, home to the rare milu deer, also known as Père David’s deer, a major digital transformation is under way. Using a 5G-enabled and AI-enabled intelligent information platform, the reserve has moved beyond manual records and blind patrols, deploying hundreds of high-definition and infrared cameras alongside environmental sensors to better monitor and protect this unique ecosystem. You can read more about this here.

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.

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