Network automation revisited: the 5G priority

The GSMA Intelligence Mobile Data Deck offers a fast track to all the essential data you need to know, with key mobile metrics in one easy-to-use deck of charts. The forecasts to 2030 include connections by region and technology generation, smartphone connections and adoption, and mobile operator revenue.

The perennial challenge for operators is being able to sell to consumers and businesses based on more than just speeds and latencies, which are eventually competed away. This analysis looks at a selection of 5G revenue models used by operators in the consumer and enterprise domains. What has worked? What hasn’t? Each model is compared according to a common template to give a view of the business impact.

Many AI announcements in Q1 2026 focused on telecoms operators and partners building out sovereign capabilities to satisfy national requirements around data residency, compute and LLMs. Meanwhile, investment in agentic AI build-outs has extended beyond networks and software to machines, drones, cars and other industrial assets – so-called ‘physical AI’. As well as recent developments from the telco AI space and the Telco AI tracker, this edition provides a deep dive on the implications of the growth of on-device AI.