Yet, for all its technical success, certain promises remain unfulfilled. The vision of 5G as an engine for unprecedented financial growth, particularly in the enterprise sector, has largely stalled. Annual mobile revenue growth has seen only modest improvements, and operators have struggled to charge a premium for 5G connectivity. While niche successes like Fixed Wireless Access in North America exist, the massive revenue uplift from enterprise digitalisation, once forecast to be in the trillions, has not materialised.

So, what happened to the smart cities, the autonomous vehicles, and the immersive experiences? The industry is at a crossroads, and a recent Mobile World Live webinar revealed that the key to unlocking this dormant value lies not in chasing new, speculative services, but in a fundamental transformation of the network itself through open source, AI, and automation.

The 5G promise vs. the 5G reality

At its inception, 5G was positioned as the great driver for enterprise digitalisation. Rimma Iontel, Chief Architect for Telecommunications at open source company and IBM subsidiary Red Hat, recalls the vision: “The core aspiration was an upgrade from providing consumer voice and data services to high margin enterprise services.” This justified massive upfront investment, with spectrum alone costing operators billions.

However, the reality fell short. The cost of network upgrades exceeded projections, requiring expensive new cell sites and backhaul. Core and RAN applications were slow to adopt a true cloud-native model, and the widespread adoption of the non-standalone (NSA) 5G core, chosen for its faster deployment, became an obstacle, as it lacked the capabilities like network slicing needed for advanced enterprise services.

“Businesses very pragmatically decided that they didn’t need an upgrade from good enough technologies like Wi-Fi,” Iontel explained. The anticipated revenue to fund further modernisation and new services never materialised, leaving operators with impressive networks but strained finances.

James Joiner highlighted GSMA Intelligence research that reinforces this, noting a “notable drop off in mobile Capex” as operators rethink investment. The transition to 5G Standalone (SA), seen as critical for unlocking new monetisation, has been slow, with less than a quarter of operators with live 5G networks having deployed it. Concerns about technology maturity, organisational readiness, and a clear return on investment are causing hesitation.

Efficiency as the new revenue

Faced with this monetisation challenge, the industry’s focus is shifting. GSMA Intelligence’s survey data reveals that operators’ primary goals for technologies like AI and 5G Advanced are no longer solely revenue generation.

If the promises of 5G haven’t materialised because of complexity and high operational costs, how do AI and automation fix this without just adding more complexity? “By not tackling the problem wholesale, by breaking it into manageable pieces. Harnessing that flood of information through a unified data framework is the first step for AI ops,” said Rimma Iontel, adding: “You can bring the power of machine learning to greatly reduce the complexity of uncovering network problems, and then automating the resolution.”

James Joiner added: “Building on what Rimma said, I think one of the key areas we see for applying AI is around energy efficiency. We’ve seen operators cite reductions in energy usage somewhere between 10 and 20%, where AI can have an immediate effect and show that measurable return.”

Taking a pragmatic approach to efficiency is echoed in operator priorities. Over 40% cite efficient network operations as the primary goal for AI investment, compared to only 25% who point to revenue generation. The initial use cases are clear, network planning, optimization, and predictive maintenance.

Open source as the foundational enabler

This focus on operational efficiency and intelligence is intrinsically linked to open architectures. Open RAN, for instance, is now viewed by over 50% of operators as a top-three technology for driving OPEX savings. The conversation has evolved from just openness to how it enables greater automation and intelligence.

An open source, cloud-native platform provides the essential foundation. It offers the uniform operational experience needed to manage complexity across a hybrid environment, from the customer edge to the public cloud. “By providing a foundation on which you can build services that suit your goals and the needs of your customers, open source aims at versatility, increased productivity, and efficient operations,” noted Iontel.

This approach prevents vendor lock-in and fosters a collaborative ecosystem. It allows operators to own their data and their AI models, applying them consistently across the network to reduce manual processes, increase reliability, and even optimise capital expenditure through more efficient network planning.

“Open source gives you that freedom of choice,” added Iontel. “With an open platform environment, you can deploy your AI apps anywhere from the edge to the core, you own your data, you own your models, you make decisions. You have the control of your network.”

Forging a pragmatic path to 6G

The lessons from 5G are invaluable as the industry looks toward 6G. The vision for 6G is a distributed, intelligent fabric that interacts with the physical world. To avoid past pitfalls, the approach must be grounded.

The strategy according to Iontel is clear: “Focus first on building an open, AI-enabled platform. Master AI operations to make the core business profitable. Use those efficiencies and the matured skills of your workforce to then introduce strategic, high-value services for specific enterprise verticals. These successes will fund the broader, longer-term rollout of 6G capabilities,” said Red Hat’s Iontel, adding: “With 6G what we need to do is to build and bake in open interoperable interfaces into the foundational standard and that in turn might stimulate an overall healthier ecosystem.”

The journey to unlocking the massive financial potential of next-generation networks is not about a single killer application. It is about building an intelligent, automated, and fundamentally open network that operates with unprecedented efficiency today, creating the agile foundation for the profitable services of tomorrow. The vein of value is there; open source, combined with AI and automation, provides the tools to finally mine it.

Watch the full webinar on-demand here: https://www.mobileworldlive.com/mwl-unwrapped-webinar-opening-5g-deploy-applications-faster-with-ai-and-automation/

The post How open source, AI, and automation will finally monetise 5G and forge the path to 6G appeared first on Mobile World Live.

During our digital Unwrapped week Justin spoke to Tarun Gupta, Co-Founder, Skylo Technologies, about the NTN vendor’s big ambitions in satellite connectivity.

The post Unwrapped Keynote: Skylo Technologies appeared first on Mobile World Live.

During our digital Unwrapped week Sasha spoke to Luke Ibbetson, Head of Group R&D, Vodafone Group, about the company’s big satellite ambitions and tieup with AST SpaceMobile.

The post Unwrapped Keynote: Vodafone Group appeared first on Mobile World Live.

During our digital Unwrapped week Justin spoke to Thierry Klein, President of Bell Labs Solutions Research, Nokia, about the company’s huge mission to provide connectivity from the moon.

The post Unwrapped Keynote: Nokia appeared first on Mobile World Live.

During our digital Unwrapped week Sasha spoke to Tim Hatt, Head of Research and Consulting, GSMA Intelligence, about the booming satellite and NTN market.

The post Unwrapped Keynote: GSMA Intelligence appeared first on Mobile World Live.

During our digital Unwrapped week Sasha spoke to Dave Weidner, CEO, Pelion about the embedded cellular opportunity.

The post Unwrapped Keynote: Pelion appeared first on Mobile World Live.

During our Digital Unwrapped week Justin spoke to Ankur Kapoor, SVP + Chief Network Officer. T-Mobile about the future of 5G

The post Unwrapped Keynote: T-Mobile appeared first on Mobile World Live.

During our Digital Unwrapped week Sasha spoke to Anita Döhler, CEO, NGMN Alliance about the future of 5G 

The post Unwrapped Keynote: NGMN Alliance appeared first on Mobile World Live.

During our Digital Unwrapped week Justin spoke to Yago Tenorio, SVP & CTO, Verizon about the future of 5G

The post Unwrapped Keynote: Verizon appeared first on Mobile World Live.

During our Digital Unwrapped week Sasha spoke to Peter Jarich, Head, GSMA Intelligence about the future of 5G 

The post Unwrapped Keynote: GSMA Intelligence appeared first on Mobile World Live.

During our digital Unwrapped week Justin spoke to Luke Wilson, Chief Commercial Officer, Millwall Football Club, to find out more about the UK’s first mobile network offering from a football club supported by eSIM.

The post Unwrapped Keynote: Millwall Football Club appeared first on Mobile World Live.

• Implications of 5G NTN on infrastructure and business models
• Key technical challenges and considerations
• Interoperability and the road to seamless integration with terrestrial 5G
• The evolving role of the ground segment in NTN architecture

This is your opportunity to hear directly from those building the foundations of NTN — and those preparing to deliver services across it.

Also joining the session:

The post UNWRAPPED WEBINAR: 5G NTN Reality Check – What Operators Need to Know About Bridging Space and Terrestrial Networks appeared first on Mobile World Live.

Discussing expectations for the hot but crowded market in the next 12-24 months, Gupta told Mobile World Live he anticipated some major shifts, including the possibility of “a direct consumer play from satellite”.

 “When you think about today, in my opinion the amount of time you’re on your phone that you’re actually on cellular is actually quite low,” he said.

“If all I need is e-mail or directions, texting and perhaps light video while I’m on cellular, then satellite can work, and that can be the primary mode of communication where your offload is just like Wi-Fi today”.

Where satellite direct-to-device (D2D) services to standard smartphones are currently available this is through agreements with operators. These are generally limited to basic applications like emergency messaging and navigation.

Skylo progress
Discussing its own offering, which is used by customers in the automotive, IoT and consumer sectors (the latter via a high-profile offering with Verizon via Google Pixel and Samsung S25 devices), he explained it had been working to get technology included in further device chipsets.

Gupta expects a number of operators to “bring in and take the NTN service” to increase alongside new devices in the marketplace, “whether that’s smartphones, more IoT devices or [those from] tier one automotive manufacturers.”

Currently, Gupta said Skylo has agreements with around 20 company customers.

He also anticipates greater use case support, noting having started with SOS and SMS, “now you’ll start to see light data”.

While Gupta stated one way to monetise satellite for operators was as part of a consumer’s monthly bill, he added carriers may think about it a little differently, indicating the potential to use it to help migrate people onto more higher value plans.

“I think carriers are viewing this as a tool in their toolkit where it’s not just saying how do we pass on additional costs to the consumer,” he said, citing its use in situations where operators “don’t need to install or erect a microcell, microcell or picocell in an area” saving capex.

The post Skylo co-founder tips sat comms industry shake-up appeared first on Mobile World Live.

Ibbetson told Mobile World Live Vodafone’s aims for direct-to-device (D2D) in particular was to deliver a service that complemented its terrestrial network and give it the ability to “provide proper, full broadband to customers” wherever they are.

“We didn’t want something from the beginning that would just provide emergency messaging when somebody is stuck up a hillside. We wanted something that would be able to augment our terrestrial network assets in a very seamless way, fill in the blanks and give our customers the security of having that full fat feeling of broadband in their hands, wherever they are.”

The Vodafone executive admitted that after many years of looking at different satellite technologies, it would only be able to fulfil its mission if a company had a massive beamforming in space.

Until recently, that wasn’t something it could see happening. However, when it started to look at AST SpaceMobile’s design, architecture and a vision to put giant antenna arrays in space, it saw an opportunity.

“It wasn’t because we were picking a winner from all the number of different satellite companies that are out there now that weren’t out there. We simply saw a great opportunity to use some very, very, clever emerging technology.”

Tricky timescales
Ibbetson’s comments come a week after the pair’s joint venture outlined plans to form a Europe-led satellite constellation which will include a command switch to support sovereignty.

Ibbetson admitted he was somewhat surprised by how much interest there is in the concept of sovereignty, while acknowledging its growing importance.

“If you’re a European stakeholder, you want to have assurances to know who’s got their hands on the controls.”

With plans for SatCo to roll out services in 2026, Ibbetson said this was still the aim but admitted “timescales are tricky” given the complexity of satellite launches in general.

The post Vodafone gravitates towards AST SpaceMobile D2D mission appeared first on Mobile World Live.

Jennifer Barber PhD, Director of Product Management for 5G NTN Solutions, explains what the satellite industry needs to do to unlock the full power of 5G NTN and Kratos’ approach in building the most powerful 5G NTN systems.

The post Partner Interview: Kratos appeared first on Mobile World Live.

Hear first-hand from industry experts as they discuss infrastructure, spectrum strategies, and the latest standards driving this sector forward. Discover what it will take to enable true global mobility, the integration challenges ahead, and how collaborations between the space and telecoms industries are shaping the future.

Key topics will include:

• The integration of satellites into the 5G ecosystem and the prospects for universal 5G coverage from space
• Monetisation strategies: who pays for what, and how value is created across consumers, enterprises, and governments
• The real-world capabilities of 5G satellite services, spectrum and bandwidth considerations, and the user experience of tomorrow

The post UNWRAPPED TOPIC PANEL: 5G from space – Satellite & NTN appeared first on Mobile World Live.

Semtech Corporation and Skylo have changed that. Together, we deliver the industry’s first single-vendor device-to-cloud IoT solution that unifies terrestrial and satellite connectivity through one SIM, one module and one platform.

Discover how Semtech’s combined solution of Smart Connectivity Premium SIM and HL78 LPWA modules seamlessly transitions between 600+ terrestrial networks and Skylo’s NTN coverage, eliminating blind spots without manual intervention or additional hardware – backed by a single IoT expert partner.

Ideal for IoT solution providers in asset tracking and remote infrastructure monitoring, this session reveals how to achieve true global coverage, simplify fleet management and accelerate deployment—validated by real-world LPWA-to-NTN testing and early adopter experiences.

The post UNWRAPPED WEBINAR: Simplifying Satellite IoT: How One SIM, One Module and One Platform Delivers True Global Coverage appeared first on Mobile World Live.

Join our panel of industry experts as we explore the strategic imperatives for telcos in the 5G NTN era. We will discuss the benefits of a hybrid integration strategy, which leverages existing satcom infrastructure investments with 5G Core access while paving the way for future innovation, highlighting how advanced ground systems like Intuition are critical enablers. Discover how the full convergence of 3GPP TN and NTN and non-3GPP networks creates a unified ecosystem for seamless global roaming and new enterprise services. This session will provide actionable insights and a clear pathway for leveraging 5G NTN to gain a decisive competitive advantage, demonstrating the transformative power of a robust ground segment.

The post UNWRAPPED WEBINAR: 5G NTN Integration – How Hybrid Networks Unlock New Growth Opportunities appeared first on Mobile World Live.

Tenorio explained one of the pitfalls for deploying 5G was developing non-standalone (NSA) and standalone architectures (SA.)

“There are many things that we learned with 5G that we need to take as lessons to not repeat in the 6G world,” he said. “One of them was NSA and SA. We needed a 5G standard that you could deploy at that point in time and quickly, and the only way to do that was through NSA. In hindsight, it was probably the lesser evil.

“But we need to also acknowledge that it created a divide in the capacity that we rolled out for 4G was not something that you could aggregate when you moved to 5G standalone.”

Speaking during Unwrapped: The 5G Evolution, Tenorio pointed to the US operator’s recent launch of its 6G Innovation Forum as the starting point for 6G. He said the bottom-up initiative focuses on developing foundational 6G technologies, exploring new use cases and ensuring global alignment in standards and interoperability.

“There is a huge hype about AI, and of course, AI embedded in the network, but also a network that enables AI,” he said, “I think that’s a good example, and maybe that’s the killer [6G] application that we need to think of.”

He explained AI embedded in networks, AI wearables and the “massive enablement of AI for society” are areas 6G should start to map out now instead of building general purpose technology and “wait for someone to come use it”.

In addition to deciding what 6G will be, Tenorio said it is also key for operators and vendors to contribute to and follow 3GPP’s 6G standards.

“We don’t plan to deviate at all from that,” he noted. “If we have a view that there is a need to do something that’s not addressed properly or not covered, what we will do is to drive that input into the 3GPP to try to make the standard better.”

Tenorio stated the global telecoms industry “lives on a huge economy of scale,” but fragmenting 6G standards will make it more difficult for all parties.

“From a chipset to the device manufacturer to the network equipment manufacturer, they will no longer be able to aggregate on volumes,” he explained. This industry needs volumes to survive.

“Deviating from a single global standard for everybody may not be a wise thing to do for anyone involved.”

Lastly, Tenorio said 6G should be built on the shoulders of virtualised RAN or open RAN to upgrade 5G networks to 6G by using software.

 “There are many things that we learned with 5G that we need to take as lessons to not repeat in the 6G world,” he said. “We need to take that learning to 6G and make sure that the core is a software upgrade to 6G based on the 5G core that we just rolled out today.”

The post Verizon CTO Tenorio charts a course to 6G appeared first on Mobile World Live.

During our digital Unwrapped week Sasha spoke to Andreas Morawietz, Global Head of eSIM & Solutions Portfolio, Giesecke+Devrient, about the embedded cellular opportunity.

The post Unwrapped Keynote: Giesecke+Devrient appeared first on Mobile World Live.

During our Digital Unwrapped week Justin spoke to Pablo Iacopino, Head of Research and Commercial Content, GSMA Intelligence about eSIM and the embedded cellular opportunity.

The post Unwrapped Keynote: GSMA Intelligence appeared first on Mobile World Live.

During our Digital Unwrapped week Justin spoke to Ng Tian Chong, CEO, Singtel Singapore about enabling advanced 5G consumer services.

The post Unwrapped Keynote: Singtel Singapore appeared first on Mobile World Live.

During our Digital Unwrapped week Sasha spoke to Reza Rahnama, MD – Mobile Networks, BT Group about enabling advanced 5G consumer services.

The post Unwrapped Keynote: BT Group appeared first on Mobile World Live.

During our Digital Unwrapped week Justin spoke to Channa Seneviratne, Executive – Technology Development and Innovation, Telstra about enabling advanced 5G consumer services

The post Unwrapped Keynote: Telstra appeared first on Mobile World Live.

During our Digital Unwrapped week Sasha spoke to Anshu Goel, Lead Analyst – Digital Consumer, GSMA Intelligence about enabling advanced 5G consumer services

The post Unwrapped Keynote: GSMA Intelligence appeared first on Mobile World Live.

He explained Singtel began building out SA 5G sometime in 2021, with work completed in 2022, “three years before regulatory requirements – we were ahead of time”.

Backed by a forward looking government that invests in future technology, Tian Chong said from 2022 it was able to use its SA network to support the public sector in homeland defence, public security and over time extend this out to other sectors, citing examples in the EV sector, and digital twin and AI robotics deployments with Hyundai Group.

Putting the focus on network slicing, Tian Chong opened up on a collaboration with vendor Ericsson to develop different kinds of network slicing at big events, to support manufacturing at campuses and most recently application-based slicing.

He explained there is strategic importance to offering differentiated services in Singapore given the competitive landscape, with a population of just over 6 million served by four operators, along with multiple MVNOs.

Take-off
Putting its “know-how” in standalone 5G to action, Tian Chong said the operator applied it to the consumer side of 5G by using examples from the airline industry to offer services similar to economy, business and first class.

“On the same 5G network, we can have the lower ARPU customers, and yet we want to be able to add differentiation for business class and first class, meaning the higher ARPU customers.”

To do this, the CEO said it acquired four lots of 700MHz, being the first operator to do so and deploy it for 5G only.

“Straight away, 5G became the main airline and 4G the budget airline. On top of that we unlocked slicing capability to high ARPU customers, and we offered business and first class ARPU customers priority access and four times faster speeds.”

Enhancing the offering further, it worked with Palo Alto Networks on security features inside the slice.

“To do this like an airline, it is not just about the product in the aircraft. It’s about the loyalty programme, it’s about the service,” he concluded.

The post Singtel Singapore boss sets out slicing strategy appeared first on Mobile World Live.

Millwall Mobile launched in March and runs on the VodafoneThree network using a platform provided by the football club’s technology partner Shaka.

Speaking during this afternoon’s keynote session, Wilson estimated around 90-95 per cent of its mobile customers used eSIM, with the technology proving both ease of sign-up and functionality providing wider benefits to supporters and the club.

“We could see that the trend in the market is more towards eSIMs,” he told Mobile World Live. “You can see that people perhaps aren’t as tied to a network as they were historically,” indicating the process of moving networks had been smoothed by the move away from traditional cards.

He added the ease with which consumers can now move between networks means “you don’t feel that you’re as tied down” when there’s a better “price point or proposition” elsewhere.

The company has integrated mobile sign-ups with its existing single Millwall sign-on used by customers.

“For us that’s a really key point because it allows our fans to sign-up really easily and quickly using a log-in they’ve already got,” Wilson explained, adding it “allows us to also add that to our data proposition”.

Benefits include cross-selling and tailoring the wider experience of supporters for the benefit of the club and fans.

Wilson said in terms of supporter uptake, Millwall Mobile had progressed as expected, with an initial burst of sign-ups and it now expects “to see people slowly switching over time as they get to a point where they are considering a new contract or handset, or whatever it may be”.

The post eSIM proves a winner for Millwall FC appeared first on Mobile World Live.

During our Digital Unwrapped week Justin spoke to Anton Reynaldo Bonifacio, Chief AI Officer and Chief Information Security Officer, Globe Telecom about AI – The Art of the Possible

The post Unwrapped Keynote: Globe Telecom appeared first on Mobile World Live.

During our Digital Unwrapped week Sasha spoke to Mauro Goncalves Filho, SVP – AI-RAN, SoftBank Telecom America Corp about AI – The Art of the Possible

The post Unwrapped Keynote: SoftBank Telecom America Corp appeared first on Mobile World Live.

During our Digital Unwrapped week Justin spoke to Soma Velayutham, Vice President, AI & Telecoms at NVIDIA about AI – The Art of the Possible.

The post Unwrapped Keynote: NVIDIA appeared first on Mobile World Live.