Anyway, What Does AI-RAN Even Mean?
AI‑RAN is currently a marketing‑driven label rather than a defined technical standard, despite telecom’s decades‑long use of AI in radio networks. Vendors offer divergent interpretations, making it hard for operators to model total cost of ownership or plan capital expenditures. The article traces AI’s early adoption in the 1980s, highlights the present standardization vacuum, and outlines the architectural changes—hardware decoupling, heterogeneous xPU sharing, and Layer 1 resource pooling—required for a coherent AI‑RAN definition.
Telefonica Germany Improves Mobile Coverage with 2,000 Expansion Measures in Q1
Telefonica Germany deployed 2,000 network expansion measures in Q1, a 25 percent year‑on‑year rise, targeting under‑served regions, rail lines and roads. The carrier also launched over 600 new 5G sites, extending 5G coverage to roughly 99 percent of the German population. These...
Delta Skips Starlink, Signs with Amazon Leo for Satellite In-Flight Wi-Fi Starting in 2028
Delta Air Lines announced a partnership with Amazon’s Leo satellite network to provide in‑flight Wi‑Fi beginning in 2028. The rollout will initially equip 500 domestic aircraft with Leo Ultra antennas delivering up to 1 Gbps download and 400 Mbps upload speeds, offered...
Mtel Germany Introduces New 'Worry-Free' Tariffs for Roaming in Balkans
German MVNO Mtel Germany has launched its new ‘Worry‑Free’ mobile tariffs aimed at eliminating roaming anxiety for travelers. The core offering provides unlimited data across the Balkans and the broader EU, covering Bosnia‑Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia and Slovenia. A complementary...
Rwandan Banks Deliver Debt Financing for Paradigm Tower Takeover
Rwandan banks have closed a landmark debt financing deal, dubbed Project Zorro, to fund the acquisition of IHS Rwanda, now Ishara Towers Rwanda, by Paradigm Tower. The consortium, led by Bank of Kigali and joined by Development Bank of Rwanda,...
Thousands of Pico-Satellites May Transform How Phones Connect to Space
Researchers in Japan demonstrated that tens of thousands of pico‑satellites can operate as a single, distributed phased‑array antenna for direct‑to‑smartphone communication. By wirelessly synchronizing each tiny satellite to a reference signal, the system eliminates bulky cabling and costly large‑satellite platforms....
Welsh Government Selects Extending High-Speed Broadband Suppliers
The Welsh Government has appointed three suppliers—Airband, Fibrus and Openreach—for Lot 1 and Airband, Fibrus and Wifinity for Lot 2 of its Extending High‑Speed Broadband (EHSB) scheme. The program, funded with a reclaimed £70 m budget (approximately $90 m), targets roughly 29,000 hard‑to‑reach premises...
MediaTek MT7927 "Filogic 380" WiFi Support Coming Together For Linux
MediaTek’s MT7927 (Filogic 380) chipset is gaining upstream Linux support for Wi‑Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 through the mt76 driver, thanks to developer Javier Tia. The driver has been reverse‑engineered and tested on ASUS, Lenovo, Foxconn and AMD RZ738 devices. It is now in...
CityFibre Launches Nationwide 8.5Gbps Wholesale Product
CityFibre has launched an 8.5 Gbps wholesale broadband product across its UK‑wide full‑fibre network, making symmetric ultra‑fast speeds available to all ISP partners from 21 April. The rollout leverages the company’s XGS‑PON infrastructure, which already serves 4.36 million premises and aims for an...
India’s 5G Traffic Surges over 70% YoY | Nokia MBiT Index 2026
Nokia’s 13th Mobile Broadband Index shows India’s 5G data traffic jumped 70% year‑on‑year to 12.9 exabytes in 2025, now accounting for roughly 47% of all mobile broadband traffic. Average monthly data use per subscriber rose above 31 GB, reflecting an 18% five‑year...
When iBGP Full Mesh Is Actually Unnecessary
The article debunks the long‑standing belief that iBGP must operate as a full mesh, showing that the requirement is a design choice rather than a protocol mandate. Early RFCs phrased iBGP as a complete graph, but modern RFC 4271 removed that...
Taiwan’s KBRO Taps Harmonic to Drive Network Upgrade
Taiwan’s leading multiple‑system operator KBRO is upgrading its broadband access network using Harmonic’s fiber‑on‑demand solution built on the cOS™ virtualized platform. The new architecture complements KBRO’s DOCSIS high‑split strategy, allowing demand‑driven fiber expansion and a transition to XGS‑PON for multi‑gigabit...
SM Line Ships Get Satellite Systems From SpaceX Subsidiary Starlink Korea
South Korean liner operator SM Line has equipped all 13 vessels in its fleet with satellite communications from Starlink Korea, the local arm of SpaceX. The service leverages more than 8,000 low‑earth‑orbit satellites positioned around 550 km, delivering faster and more...
RPKI vs Social Engineering: A Case Study in Route Hijacking
At APRICOT 2026, APNIC and LACNIC disclosed a BGP hijack in July 2025 that combined technical spoofing with social engineering. The attacker forged identity documents to convince a multinational upstream provider to activate transit for a stolen ASN, enabling short‑lived, unauthorized route...
Fiber Broadband Association Middle Mile WG: How to Use “Digital Infrastructure Networks” For Coordinated Fiber Backbone Investments
The Fiber Broadband Association’s Middle Mile Working Group released guidance urging states to coordinate fiber backbone projects and adopt "dig once" policies to accelerate deployment. It emphasizes that the United States must increase fiber mileage 2.3‑fold by 2029 to meet...
The Financial Trap of Autonomous Networks: Scaling Agentic AI in the Telecom Core
Telecom operators are racing to deploy autonomous, self‑healing networks powered by agentic AI, but the hidden expense of continuously running GPU‑intensive models threatens to overwhelm IT budgets and ESG goals. Traditional Kubernetes Horizontal Pod Autoscaling reacts too slowly for sub‑millisecond...
SoftBank’s Physical AI Push Gives AI-RAN a Sharper Purpose
SoftBank is rebranding from a traditional carrier to an AI‑native infrastructure provider, centering its strategy on Physical AI that couples vision‑language models with robot actions. It proposes an AI‑RAN architecture where edge MEC handles perception and task planning, while the...
Podcast: The Future of Spectrum Auctions
In a PolicyTracker podcast, NERA’s Richard Marsden discusses how spectrum auctions will evolve as 6G and satellite services expand. He predicts a shift toward more clock auctions and the disappearance of combinatorial formats, while auctions will remain the primary allocation...
Orange Subsidiary W-HA Enables M-Payments with 5G Slicing at Local Carnival
Orange’s fully owned subsidiary W‑HA partnered with the Orange 5G Lab in Rennes to pilot mobile payments at Granville’s five‑day carnival. The trial leveraged Orange’s 5G+ network slicing to create a dedicated “Tap to Pay Contodeo” channel that turned smartphones...
T2 Adds Free Calls to Russia From Abroad to Top Plans
Russian mobile operator T2, a Rostelecom subsidiary, announced it will eliminate roaming surcharges for calls to Russian networks made from abroad. The policy applies to a broad set of tariffs across more than 50 countries. Subscribers of Everywhere Online, My...
Ipko Updates Infinit Postpaid Packages with More Data, Roaming
Kosovo telecom operator Ipko has refreshed its Infinit postpaid plans, adding larger data caps and new roaming options across the Western Balkans, Europe, and the United States. The five‑tier lineup, Infinit 1 through Infinit 5, is priced between €10 ($11) and €100...
Sivers Targets Frontier 5G-A, 6G Transmitters with New Beamforming IC
Sivers Semiconductors announced the general availability of its Daybreak 0715 beamforming integrated circuit. The chip operates in the FR3 band from 7 GHz to 15 GHz, bridging the gap between sub‑6 GHz and mmWave spectra. Designed for 5G‑Advanced and future 6G networks, it delivers...
Terago FY Loss Widens After 3% Fall in Revenues
Terago, a Canadian fixed‑wireless broadband provider, posted 2025 revenues of CAD 25.4 million (≈ USD 18.8 million), a 3.1% decline year‑over‑year. Adjusted EBITDA slipped 5.6% to CAD 3.8 million (≈ USD 2.8 million), and the net loss widened. Management cited weaker bookings, installation delays on large multi‑site projects, and reduced...
Macra Declares Advances Towards Tower Deployment Through DMAP
The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) announced that the Digital Malawi Acceleration Project (DMAP) is moving forward with plans to procure service providers for more than 90 new communication towers across the country. DMAP has pledged to deliver 100 towers,...
Vodafone Spain Inks Wholesale Deal with Avanza Fibra
Vodafone Spain, now owned by Zegona, signed a wholesale agreement with regional MVNO Avanza Fibra. The deal will shift Avanza from the MasOrange network to Vodafone’s infrastructure across seven provinces in southeastern Spain. Avanza will gain access to Vodafone’s 5G,...
Globe Telecom Expands 5G Service to Misamis Oriental Province
Globe Telecom announced the rollout of its 5G network to the Misamis Oriental province in Northern Mindanao, adding to recent accelerations in Cagayan de Oro and Gingoog. The expansion also brings 5G coverage to numerous coastal and inland municipalities. Globe...
South Korea Puts 6G Inside Its National AI Push
South Korea approved a three‑year national roadmap that couples AI development with the rollout of 6G, aiming to place the country among the top three AI powers by 2028. The plan earmarks roughly $6.1 billion for 2026, including $1.26 billion for ICT...
Starlink Is Taking Revenues Telcos Couldn’t Capture
Starlink has surpassed 10 million active subscribers, adding roughly 19,600 new customers each day since reaching the 9 million mark. The service is rapidly expanding beyond its traditional niche of rural, aviation, and maritime broadband. By contrast, traditional telcos face prohibitive costs—$3,000...
2026 SHTF Comms: Stay Connected With Last Ditch Satellites
The March 29, 2026 Survival Dispatch post outlines emerging satellite communication options for disaster‑ready individuals, focusing on low‑cost, low‑earth‑orbit (LEO) constellations marketed as “last‑ditch” links when terrestrial networks fail. It highlights new handheld terminals, subscription pricing under $15 per month,...
B-Com’s Open XG Hub Targets One of Telecom’s Biggest Gaps: Turning Experimentation Into Deployment
b-com’s Open XG Hub is an end‑to‑end experimentation platform that links academic research with carrier‑grade deployment for 5G and future 6G networks. It offers a unified RAN, core, and multi‑band environment where partners can validate architectures, AI‑native functions, and non‑terrestrial...
Understanding Head-of-Line Blocking: HTTP/2 Vs. HTTP/3 (QUIC) in Production
Head‑of‑line (HOL) blocking stalls multiple data streams when a single packet is lost, a problem that persisted from HTTP/1.1 into HTTP/2 despite multiplexing. HTTP/2 still relies on TCP’s in‑order byte delivery, so a lost packet pauses every multiplexed stream on...
GSME, Tarana Wireless Partner to Transform Wireless Connectivity
GS Microelectronics U.S., Inc. (GSME) has entered a strategic partnership with Tarana Wireless to provide dedicated RF‑Analog engineering support for Tarana’s transceiver portfolio and future road‑map. The collaboration will accelerate product optimization, validation and new releases, especially for Tarana’s Fixed Wireless Access solutions...
Weekly Brief – 27/03/2026
Starlink has introduced a promotional $32/month (≈£25) satellite broadband plan, offering a $13/month discount for new customers who sign up before the end of April 2026. CityFibre is piloting BUKO’s traffic‑management system in Worthing, using sat‑nav data and Meta platforms...
Ookla Speedtest Data Added to Arcep Mobile Performance Mapping Tool
Ookla has entered a 12‑month crowdsourced data partnership with France’s telecom regulator Arcep. The deal adds Speedtest‑derived speed and latency measurements to Arcep’s mobile performance and coverage mapping platform. This integration broadens the granularity of network data across the country,...
Nexfibre Offering 2Gbps Connectivity to UK Youth Centres
nexfibre has partnered with charity UK Youth and Virgin Media O2 to deliver free full‑fibre broadband at speeds of 1 Gbps or 2 Gbps to youth centres across the United Kingdom. The pilot at Brentswood Hub in Haywards Heath marks the start...
Devon Residents Urgent to Sign up for Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme
Devon residents are being urged to apply for the UK government’s Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme before its August deadline. The scheme offers up to £4,500 (≈ $5,700) per eligible home or business, but vouchers require at least two premises, leaving isolated...
AmpliTech Reports FY Sales up 165%
AmpliTech announced FY 2025 revenue of $25.2 million, a 165 percent jump from the prior year. The surge was powered primarily by its expanding 5G product portfolio and heightened demand for low‑noise amplifiers (LNA) and low‑noise blocks (LNB). Strong orders from telecom operators...
PTS Plans to Let Contingencies Agency MCF Use Part of 700 MHz Band for Rakel Replacement
Swedish regulator PTS is consulting on limiting permits in two sections of the 700 MHz band (703‑713 MHz and 758‑768 MHz), frequencies that were freed after the digital TV transition. The Civil Contingencies Agency MCF has applied for a permit to use part...
Werthein Group to Launch Sky Mobile in Brazil in April
The Argentine Werthein Group, owner of Sky Brasil, will launch Sky Mobile in Brazil this April as a mobile‑virtual network operator. The service will use TIM and Surf Telecom’s 4G and 5G infrastructure, allowing rapid nationwide coverage without building its own network. Dario...
Antevia Joins O-RAN ALLIANCE to Drive Enterprise 5G
Antevia Networks has joined the O‑RAN Alliance to help shape open standards for private 5G deployments. The move supports its 5G Shift solution, which uses cloud‑native, virtualised RAN built on commercial‑off‑the‑shelf hardware. Shared Cell technology consolidates multiple radios into a...
Megafon Deploys Private LTE Network for Nordgold in Sakha
Russian telecom operator Megafon has finished installing a private LTE network for gold‑miner Nordgold in the Republic of Sakha. The system spans roughly 100 km² in the Olyokminsk municipality and comprises seven permanent and two temporary base stations. Deployment aims to...
Vodafone Ukraine Overhauls Business Tariff Line
Vodafone Ukraine introduced a revamped business tariff portfolio comprising nine plans priced between UAH 220 and UAH 1,200 (approximately $6‑$32 per month). Most tiers feature unlimited on‑net voice calls, while the premium offering adds unlimited data, a 40 GB EU roaming bundle, and...
Vodafone, Satellite Connect Europe Make Satellite Video Call in Ireland
Vodafone Ireland and Satellite Connect Europe, the joint venture with AST SpaceMobile, completed Ireland’s first mobile video call via satellite using a regular smartphone and the AST Bluebird satellite. The call originated from a dead‑zone on Clare Island, County Mayo,...
Orange Poland Starts New Smartphone Trade-In Offer
Orange Poland has launched a new smartphone trade‑in program available in its retail stores. The scheme accepts any handset that can power on, rewarding customers with a voucher starting at PLN 40 (about $10) toward a new device. For phones that...
Kerlink Unveils M2 Wirnet iStation for Enhanced IoT and Edge Connectivity in Remote Footprints
Kerlink has launched the Wirnet iStation M2, a multi‑mode connectivity gateway that combines cellular, Wi‑Fi, Bluetooth and LoRa radios. The device is built in France and engineered for harsh, power‑constrained environments such as remote industrial sites. It targets core verticals including...
Broadband Subscribers 4Q 2025
Broadband subscriber data for Q4 2025 shows fixed‑wireless access (FWA) cellular providers achieved the largest net customer gain ever recorded for the segment, while cable operators continued to shed subscribers. Telcos grew overall by adding more fiber connections than they...
3GPP Study on Modernization of Specification Format and Procedures for 6G (6GSM)
3GPP has launched a study (TR 21.802) to modernize the format and procedures used to develop its mobile standards as the industry prepares for 6G. The study highlights that the long‑standing Word‑based, document‑centric workflow is straining under increasingly large and complex...
CMA Technology Picks Rivada to Drive Secure Connectivity
CMA Technology has partnered with Rivada Space Networks to resell its Outernet, a 600‑satellite low‑Earth‑orbit mesh that provides secure, low‑latency connectivity. Rivada reports over $19 billion in global business tied to the network, which routes data entirely in space via laser...
A1 Belarus Launches 10GB Data Roaming Pack for Eastern Europe
Telecom operator A1 Belarus has rolled out a new 10 GB data roaming package for customers traveling across 14 Eastern European and nearby countries. The offering is available as a one‑off monthly bundle and as a recurring subscription, targeting both consumer...
Rostelecom Covers 1.8 Mln Residents with Mobile Network Under Federal Programme
Rostelecom announced that, under the second stage of Russia’s federal digital‑divide programme, it has extended GSM and LTE mobile coverage to 1.8 million residents across 7,881 villages. The rollout, carried out with its subsidiary T2, began with the first base station...