Reshaping networks: from a 5G core to an agentic core

This quarterly review of global 5G developments provides a concise, tracker-style deliverable, presenting key metrics and forecasts in an easy-to-access and engaging way. GSMA Intelligence has aggregated the latest data on 5G connections, adoption and coverage, as well as information on network trials/launches and spectrum assignments.

At IFA Berlin 2026, AI remained the dominant theme, as it becomes increasingly embedded across consumer electronics experiences. Beyond AI, robotics stood out, with the show hosting a ‘Robots on the Runway’ spectacle. For players across the consumer tech ecosystem, the themes highlighted at IFA continue to spur opportunities such as monetisation but also challenges, including costs and privacy issues.

Growth in AI consumption is creating commercial opportunities across the AI value chain. Over the past year, investment in AI has increasingly extended towards revenue-generating services and enterprise propositions, with operators assuming a broader range of roles across the AI value chain. Telcos in Asia Pacific are particularly active across multiple layers of the AI value chain. They account for 43% of those participating in the infrastructure layer and 38% in the model layer. This position reflects the combination of large and linguistically diverse markets, government-backed national and sovereign AI agendas, expanding AI infrastructure investment, and the scale of leading regional operators and technology ecosystems.