AvidThink 2025 August Newsletter

We're hard at work on the upcoming AI in Networking Report — many briefings taken, videos captured, pages written. If you still want a piece of the action, it's almost too late, but quickly reach out to us at [email protected] and we'll see what we can do.

You may have noticed that this month's newsletter is formatted differently. We're conducting a trial migration from MailChimp, which has served us well for over a decade (since we were part of SDxCentral), to Beehiiv, in the hopes of reducing the monthly effort required for content formatting. There's also the promise of greater engagement, which would be a nice bonus. Let us know what you think in the poll below (right underneath Roy's Travelogue section).

In the meantime, the news has picked up this month, with a landmark sale of spectrum by EchoStar to AT&T, which also means the end of the road in the quest for a 4th independent national mobile network operator (MNO) in the US. EchoStar will be a hybrid MNO, decommissioning its RAN and relying on AT&T's and T-Mobile's networks. As many have said (including us), never count Charlie (Ergen) out. Charlie's net worth doubled immediately after the sale, but the Boost/DISH multi-vendor Open RAN, along with the vendors who helped bring it to life, is the collateral damage here. The EchoStar situation created yet another opportunity for Roy to be quoted again in Forbes, along with other publications (see the AvidThink in the News section below).

In other news, Roy arrived in Seattle/Bellevue, Washington, along with other mobile analysts, for T-Mobile's Innovation Summit and Analyst Forum, just as the news of a leadership shakeup at T-Mobile broke. That slightly overshadowed their launch of their T-Innovate startup acceleration program and their new SuperMobile business offering—more details below in Roy's Travelogue.

Here's what's in store for this month's newsletter:

• Roy's Travelogue — Roy's easing into conference travel again

• Latest Reports — Zero Trust in the 5G Era (sponsored by Ericsson Enterprise Wireless Solutions)

• Recent Articles— AI in Cybersecurity (3-part blog sponsored by ENEA)

• NextGenInfra — Fiber Connect 2025 Video Showcase

• August News Roundup — EchoStar sells spectrum to AT&T, T-Mobile leaders Ewaldsson and Field step down, Almeida steps up, Transformers for AI-RAN at SoftBank

• Other Content — AvidThink in the News, Webinars, Meet Us Live

Stay tuned for our upcoming reports in the Fall and Winter!

Roy’s Travelogue

Travel for the fall got an early start in August, with the KeyBanc Technology Leadership Forum in beautiful Deer Valley/Park City, Utah, followed by the T-Mobile Innovation Summit and Analyst Forum in Seattle last week. In between were IEEE Hot Interconnects and Hot Chips, which were local and online.

Note: If you’re viewing this on the web, the photo above is of the luxurious Montage Deer Valley, where the event was held.

While I can’t share the details of the meetings at the KeyBanc event, I was mostly hanging around the data center networking, edge workloads, and enterprise connectivity discussion forums, where AI was the dominant workload. My takeaway, which I shared with many investors, was: “As a technology analyst, I don’t know what question you’re going to be asking, but 80% of the time, the answer is NVIDIA.” Enough said.

Last week, thanks to T-Mobile’s invite, I headed up to Bellevue to attend their Technology Innovation Summit and Analyst Forum. We had the chance to check out their newly renovated Executive Briefing Center (photos above) pre-launch — very nicely decked out with the latest in audio-visual presentation technology to tell whatever story T-Mobile needs told. Also, I really appreciated the chance to dig deeper into T-Satellite and the newly launched SuperMobile (business priority slice, integrated security and SASE, and direct-to-device satellite), as well as a private preview of T-Mobile’s enterprise roadmap, which looks promising.

Coming up shortly is FutureNet Asia in Singapore in two weeks, followed by the OCP Global Summit 2025 in San Jose. And please attend the AI Networking Summit/ONUG Fall (Oct 22-23) in NYC, which, unfortunately, I can’t make, but promises to be a worthwhile event. November will see me at Mplify Alliance (formerly MEF) Global NaaS Event in Dallas (10-12 November), along with Network Automation Forum AutoCon4 in Austin, TX (19-21 November).

There are others which we’ll try to fit in, and I hope to see you out there somewhere!

– Roy for the AvidThink Team

Latest at NextGenInfra.io

Check out the latest videos on the NextGenInfra YouTube Channel. Thanks to all of you, we’re right on the cusp of hitting 60K subscribers! If you haven’t yet, please subscribe. In the meantime, here’s a recent popular interview on the move to post-quantum cryptography (PQC) featuring Palo Alto Networks.

2025 August News Roundup

5G

EchoStar Sells $23B Spectrum to AT&T, Shifts to Hybrid MNO
EchoStar sold low- and mid-band spectrum to AT&T for $23B, transitioning to a hybrid MNO with AT&T as its primary network partner. Boost Mobile subscribers will use EchoStar’s cloud-native 5G core with AT&T cell sites, and EchoStar will decommission its RAN over time.

AT&T Spectrum Deal Seen as Setback for Cable MVNOs
BNP Paribas said AT&T’s $23B EchoStar spectrum purchase boosts AT&T’s FWA capacity while limiting cable MVNO options. Comcast and Charter remain tied to Verizon for consumer wireless and will soon use T-Mobile for enterprise services.

Ericsson CEO: U.S. Risks Falling Behind in 5G Standalone
CEO Borje Ekholm warned that China’s 4M 5G SA sites put the U.S. at a disadvantage, with only T-Mobile having a nationwide SA deployment. He highlighted SA’s role in enabling robotics and said AI-driven algorithms are already improving spectrum efficiency.

5G Standalone Growth Faces Monetization Challenges
5G SA rollouts are increasing globally, but operators still struggle to define and monetize new services. Analysts expect broader SA adoption within five years, though many networks remain NSA for now.

Huawei, Knetco to Deploy Nationwide 5G Advanced in Kuwait
Huawei and Knetco will roll out 5G-A across Ooredoo, Zain, and stc to support Kuwait’s Vision 2035 digital strategy. The upgrade follows global momentum, with 26 operators in 15 countries investing in 5G-A.

Verizon, Hyfi Deploy 5G Flood Sensors in Chicago
50 Hyfi acoustic sensors on Verizon’s 5G network will provide real-time flood data, giving up to an hour’s early warning. The deployment follows a similar project in New Orleans and is part of Verizon’s Frontline Innovation Program.

SoftBank Touts AI-Driven Gains for 5G-A and 6G
SoftBank reported its transformer-based RAN AI models improved uplink throughput by 30% and cut latency by 1ms. Compared to CNN-based models, the transformer approach boosted uplink by 8% in real-world GPU-driven tests.

T-Mobile Leadership Changes: Ewaldsson, Field Exit
CTO John Saw will replace retiring Technology President Ulf Ewaldsson, while business president Callie Field steps down. André Almeida becomes president of growth and emerging businesses, overseeing broadband, T-ads, and financial services.

T-Mobile SuperMobile Plan Uses Network Slicing
T-Mobile launched SuperMobile for enterprises with 13+ lines, offering lower latency, faster speeds, and slicing-enabled services. Features include Starlink satellite backup, Threat Protect security, and SUCIs to protect user identity on 5G SA.

Satellite/NTN

AST SpaceMobile to Acquire $64.5M S-Band Spectrum
AST will add 60 MHz of S-band spectrum to strengthen its direct-to-device messaging and data services. With 45–60 satellites planned in orbit by next year, the company aims for 120 Mbps peak speeds, partnering with AT&T, Verizon, and Vodafone.

Cloud

Nokia to Build Cloud-Native GSM-R for Dutch Railways
ProRail hired Nokia to modernize GSM-R with a cloud-native core over four years, extending 2G life and preparing migration to FRMCS. Nokia Cloud Platform will provide secure, adaptable communications for railway operations.

F5 Acquires MantisNet for Cloud-Native Observability
MantisNet’s eBPF-based Containerized Visibility Fabric offers real-time, kernel-level telemetry without agents. F5 plans to integrate this into its security and delivery platform to address monitoring gaps in Kubernetes and containerized traffic.

Google Plans $9B AI Data Center Expansion in Oklahoma
Google will build a new Stillwater campus and expand Pryor, citing energy availability and incentives. Oklahoma is emerging as an AI data center hub, also attracting CoreWeave and Cerebras Systems.

Private Networks

India’s Private 5G Efforts Hampered by Spectrum Policy
Few enterprises responded to the DoT’s spectrum survey, reflecting low demand. Operators like Airtel and Jio oppose direct enterprise allocation, citing complexity in spectrum management and security.

Argentina to Open 2.3–2.4 GHz for Enterprise Private Networks
ENACOM will lease 10 MHz channels for private 4G/5G, with up to 60 MHz for indoor use per enterprise. Licenses are 10-year renewable, supporting both indoor and outdoor networks.

Open RAN

EchoStar Exit Threatens Open RAN Vendor Ecosystem
EchoStar’s network decommissioning impacts suppliers like Mavenir, AWS, Fujitsu, Samsung, and Wind River. While EchoStar met coverage obligations, vendors face reduced deployments as AT&T takes over spectrum.

Penn State Warns of Cyber Risks in Open RAN
At Black Hat, researchers identified 26 vulnerabilities in O-RAN, including CU crashes and RRC protocol abuse. They recommend zero-trust architectures to mitigate DoS and supply chain attack risks.

Dell’Oro: Global RAN Market Stabilizing but Flat
Dell’Oro forecasts a stable but flat RAN outlook, with growth in EMEA offsetting APAC and LATAM declines. Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia, ZTE, and Samsung dominate, with Ericsson and Huawei leading in North America and China.

AT&T CTO Explains Open RAN Strategy
CTO Jeremy Legg reaffirmed AT&T’s $14B Ericsson Open RAN contract while stressing multi-vendor goals. AT&T recently completed a third-party Open RAN call with Ericsson and Fujitsu’s 1Finity radios, replacing Nokia gear.

AI

Meta Reorganizes AI Division into Superintelligence Labs
Meta split its AI org into four teams under Meta Superintelligence Labs to accelerate personal superintelligence research. The reorg follows several restructurings as Meta competes with Microsoft, Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI.

Linux Foundation Launches Essedum 1.0 AI Networking Project
Essedum 1.0 provides a framework for AI/ML data ingestion, orchestration, and deployment across multi-clouds. Built with Infosys code, it integrates with AWS SageMaker, Azure ML, and GCP Vertex AI.

Anthropic Nears $10B Funding Round at $170B Valuation
Bloomberg reports Iconiq Capital will lead Anthropic’s $10B raise, with TPG, Lightspeed, Spark, and Menlo Ventures participating. Strong investor demand doubled the round target, valuing Anthropic at $170B.

AI Data Center Market to Hit $98B by 2032
SNS Insider forecasts AI data centers growing from $14.25B in 2024 to $98B by 2032 at 27.3% CAGR. Growth is driven by AI/ML, HPC, hyperscale builds, and new compute/storage technologies.

SD-WAN/SASE

AT&T Business, Cisco Launch Single-Vendor SASE
AT&T’s Cisco-powered SASE combines networking and security on a unified, zero-trust, cloud-native platform. The service targets both mid-size firms and distributed enterprises, optimizing performance with centralized policy management.

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