CES 2025: how edge AI stole the show

For much of 2025 and early 2026, the development of sovereign AI and sovereign digital service strategies – including the role telecoms could play in supporting them – was regularly in the news. For operators, the strategies represent an opportunity to support national agendas, reassert their relevance in the digital economy and drive new revenues based on their position as highly regulated and trusted service providers. This analysis looks at the sovereign messaging conveyed in sessions at MWC from operators, vendors, regulators and cloud providers.

This edition of the Industry Checkpoint series focuses on IoT, highlighting how the market has changed in the last six months and its implications. The report considers four major developments: the ramping up of commercial services based on SGP.32; LoRaWAN IoT integrating with the cellular and satellite ecosystems; momentum building for commercial offerings integrating NTN and cellular IoT; and eRedCap being positioned as a cost-efficient path to 5G for the next generation of IoT devices.

On-device AI is the next frontier for AI deployments in consumer and enterprise segments. Use cases include AI-based search and personal assistants, image analytics on a smartphone, AI-assisted driving and navigation in cars, industrial applications such as automated guided vehicles, and improved IoT analytics. This has implications for the device world and major tech companies whose business models depend on consumer time on the internet and digital platforms. It also matters for operators, given the ripple effect of AI-driven data traffic on mobile and fibre networks, and the direct revenue opportunity.