Welcome to the 171st edition of the Mobile & Wireless Newsletter. You may have noticed that the frequency of this newsletter, and indeed some of my other posts, has reduced over the past year. A colleague once jokingly referred to me as a “time magician”, but with so many professional and personal commitments, even magic has its limits. I have reached the point where trying to do everything risks doing nothing as well as I would like.
For that reason, I am taking a pause from this newsletter, and from some of my other regular blogging commitments, until I can properly reset and regain control of my time. I am not disappearing, but I do need a little space to reflect, prioritise and refocus.
As the industry gears up for MWC tomorrow, there will be no shortage of headlines, product launches and bold visions over the coming weeks. I will, of course, be following developments closely and, if time permits, I hope to share a short summary and some reflections once the dust settles.
For those who may be new here, I am a technologist with over 25 years of experience in mobile and wireless communications, currently working as an independent advisor, analyst, consultant and trainer. This newsletter has always been a curated summary of my recent posts, along with selected news and insights that caught my attention since the previous edition.
Thank you, as always, for reading, supporting and engaging. It is genuinely appreciated.
⦿ 6G
Light Reading: Interdigital warns new waveform would be 'disruptive' in 6G (link)
Fierce Network: What on earth is Giga-MIMO? (link)
Kyoto University: Accelerating to 6G - THz band testbed successfully transmits under 1,000 km/h high-mobility emulation (link)
Light Reading: T-Mobile tests 6G with Ericsson prototypes (link)
TelecomTV: Europe sets out its spectrum roadmap for 6G (link)
Free 6G Training: Networking for Distributed AI and Why It Matters for 6G (link)
Fierce Network Exclusive: T-Mobile’s John Saw explains kinetic tokens and why they matter in 6G (link)
Light Reading: Huawei 'vocal' opponent of open RAN in 6G standard (link)
ETSI issues new Report on ISAC System and RAN Architectures (link)
Samsung Electronics and KT Corporation Verify X-MIMO Technology in 7 GHz Band for 6G Development (PR)
Free 6G Training: NGMN examines the AI surge and what it means for 6G (link)
⦿ 5G
5G Americas Announces Plans to Conclude Operations (PR)
Gabriel Brown on LinkedIn: "Over the past month or two I've been user testing EE's 5G standalone (SA) service …" (link)
“Ericsson, in collaboration with Telstra and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. has achieved a 5G uplink speed of 682 Mbps on Telstra’s live commercial network in Queensland, Australia – up from 516 Mbps demonstrated in February 2025.” (PR)
RCR Wireless: Telia launches nationwide 5G SA in Norway (link)
Light Reading: 5G SA is expanding, but outcomes are uneven and challenges remain – report (link)
⦿ 4G/LTE
⦿ Open & Disaggregated Networks (including Open RAN, vRAN, etc.)
Dean Bubley on LinkedIn: “AI-RAN + O-RAN = AIO-RAN? I’m at a Digital Catapult event on Open Networks in London this morning… a key highlight so far was a presentation by AI-RAN Alliance Alex Choi, about closer collaboration with O-RAN ALLIANCE. Basically alignment between #AIRAN and #OpenRAN…” (link)
⦿ Spectrum
⦿ Private Networks
⦿ Telecoms Infrastructure, Small Cells, Antennas & others
Paul Rhodes on LinkedIn - Monday Musings: Hidden in Plain View! (link)
⦿ Virtualization, Cloud & Edge
Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica, TIM and Vodafone achieve the first pan-European federated Edge Continuum at MWC 2026 (PR)
⦿ Security & Privacy
TelecomTV: Google issues post-quantum security wake-up call (link)
Denis Laskov on LinkedIn - RF sensors: how to hack them or use them in attacks: leaking data from closed rooms and more! (link)
TechBrew: Claude’s hack at it (link)
Denis Laskov on LinkedIn - Security & privacy in the Tile tracking system: the first (public) security analysis of its protocol (link)
Mohamed Abbas on LinkedIn: 4G Identity Security Vs. 5G Identity Security (link)
Dmitry Kurbatov on LinkedIn: Roaming, GTP, IMSI: What Security Must Know (link)
⦿ Public Safety Networks
3GPP: Mission Critical standardised interworking (link)
⦿ Smartphones, Devices, Wearables & Gadgets
T-Mobile - America’s Best Network Unleashes Another World First: Real-Time AI Built Directly into the Network (PR)
⦿ AI, ML & Automation
TelecomTV: Telefónica advances autonomous network plan, activates edge sites (link)
⦿ Satellites, HAPS, Drones, UAVs & Space
Total Telecom: FCC clears Amazon Leo to launch 4,500 more satellites (link)
Skylo: Context Needs Connectivity: Why Skylo Added 5G NR NTN to our Portfolio — and What It Unlocks for Seamless Experience (link)
Dean Bubley on LinkedIn: "A big unanswered question: how will #satellite #DirectToDevice services work indoors? Even with lower-band #spectrum in the MSS 2GHz range, or with MNO bands as supplemental coverage there will be huge challenges…" (link)
⦿ Quantum Networks & Technology
Telecom TV: KDDI turns to Nokia for quantum-safe tech (link)
⦿ Other News and Technology Stuff
Dean Bubley on LinkedIn: "We are entering the “multi-everything era” for networks, compute and systems design. That means that many “moats” will evaporate and lock-ins will weaken…" (link)
⦿ Picture of the week: Shared by Denpa893 on X, these photos show one of the seven confirmed pole-mounted Band 42 add-on cells that have now been upgraded to NR, with this particular site gaining some unexpected visitors in the form of a couple of sparrows calmly resting on top of the unit. As he notes, the upgrades appear to be happening in batches, so more of these conversions are likely to follow. With it still being cold in Japan, the birds may well be enjoying the gentle warmth from the radio equipment, adding a slightly heart-warming touch to the steady march from LTE to 5G NR.
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.
