With MWC26 officially in the rearview mirror, it’s time to take a breath and reflect on this year’s event narrative. Much of the on-stage conversation still revolved around the familiar roadmap from 5G to 6G, but the real infrastructure shifts underpinning the AI era are beginning to happen deeper in the network stack — particularly in fiber-rich data center interconnects designed to handle the explosion of traffic between AI systems.
Cisco is leaning directly into that reality, positioning optical networking and data center connectivity as foundational to the next phase of AI infrastructure. In this model, mobile and edge networks remain critical, but increasingly as part of a broader AI networking stack that spans cloud, core, and compute.
But, as RCR Wireless News Principal Analyst Sean Kinney notes in a post-MWC reflection, Mobile World Congress also has a way of disrupting the tidy narratives the industry arrives with. The “box of expectations” operators and vendors bring to Barcelona rarely survives the week intact. This year, instead of a singular focus on 6G, conversations balanced near-term priorities like AI-assisted network operations and continued 5G evolution with longer-term visions of AI-native networks.
Perhaps, though, the real narrative is bigger than that when you’re attending a massive global communications event. As Kinney writes, the ultimate goal should be “using technology and diplomacy to deliver liberty, equality, and the opportunity for self-betterment to people everywhere.”
I’ll end with a plug: Join RCR for MWC Key Takeaways on March 18 — a half-day virtual event where we’ll unpack the biggest trends, breakthroughs, and strategic announcements from Barcelona, including 5G-Advanced, generative AI optimization, emerging enterprise use cases, and more.
Catherine Sbeglia Nin
Managing Editor
RCR Wireless News
RCR Top Stories
Cisco rights the MWC narrative: While MWC headlines focus on 5G and 6G, Cisco argues the most urgent AI infrastructure shift is happening in fiber-heavy data center interconnects supporting massive east-west traffic between AI systems.
More from Qualcomm on 6G: Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon says 6G will rely on three pillars — connectivity, computing, and sensing — transforming telecom networks into AI-native infrastructure.
Telecom’s enterprise trust test: Capgemini’s Arun Santhanam explains why telecom operators face a widening enterprise trust gap, where new B2B revenue models are emerging, and what telcos must change to compete in AI.
China’s AI compute surge: China’s AI infrastructure market is surging despite export controls and chip shortages, with Omdia noting government policy, cloud giants and telecom operators are driving a massive compute buildout.
AI-Powered Telecom Infrastructure
Supermicro, in collaboration with NVIDIA, delivers AI-powered infrastructure tailored for telcos, enhancing operational efficiency, network management, and customer experiences. Explore now
Beyond the Headlines
AT&T’s ‘connected AI’ strategy: Partnerships with Nvidia, Microsoft, AWS, and industrial IoT specialist Geoforce show how AT&T is positioning fiber, edge infrastructure, and enterprise connectivity to support enterprise AI workloads.
NTT adds 115 MW capacity: NTT Data has secured nearly 115 MW in new data center commitments across Virginia, Illinois, and California, including a 90 MW hyperscale deal, highlighting continued demand for AI-ready infrastructure.
ZTE’s 6G vision: At MWC 2026, ZTE’s Grace Tang discussed the company’s 6G vision: enabling a human-agent internet in which billions of intelligent agents require ultra-low-latency, deterministic connectivity.
Turkcell, Huawei advance AI networks: Turkcell and Huawei are collaborating across AI-driven networks, 5G evolution, and future connectivity, underscoring how operators and vendors are advancing intelligent infrastructure.
Huawei earns GLOMO recognition: Huawei has secured multiple wins at the GSMA’s GLOMO Awards during MWC 2026, with honors recognizing innovations across mobile infrastructure, network technology, and next-gen services.
What We're Reading
Thoughts about MWC: “The funny thing about MWC is that every year we arrive with a neat box of expectations about what the industry will talk about. And most every year that box gets kicked apart.” Read more from Sean Kinney.
Perplexity for CoreWeave: CoreWeave has signed a multi-year deal with Perplexity to run inference workloads on its cloud, highlighting surging demand for specialized AI compute and strengthening CoreWeave’s AI infrastructure role.
Sovereign ServiceNow: Deutsche Telekom has expanded its ‘AI factory’ ecosystem by integrating the ServiceNow AI platform into its sovereign German AI stack.
Telefónica DC twin: Telefónica has deployed an AI-based digital twin solution in its data centers to optimise cooling and energy use, using IoT sensors, real-time analytics and 3D modeling.
Oracle jobs cuts: Oracle is reportedly planning thousands of job cuts as it faces rising costs from a major expansion of AI data centres. The layoffs aim to offset heavy investment in cloud infrastructure supporting customers such as OpenAI.
Pasqal preps IPO: Pasqal has secured at least €340 million in new financing ahead of a planned public listing, combining a €170 million private funding round with convertible financing.
Eight million attacks: NETSCOUT’s latest DDoS Threat Intelligence Report found more than eight million attacks worldwide in the second half of 2025, with increasingly sophisticated, multi-vector campaigns.
LoRa takes Sidewalk: LoRa technology will underpin the global expansion of Amazon Sidewalk in 2026, says Semtech. It will enable long-range, low-power connectivity for IoT devices as the community network expands beyond the U.S.
5G SA IoT roaming: Syniverse and BICS are accelerating global 5G SA roaming by integrating their 5G signalling hubs and establishing peering arrangements, enabling mobile operators to more easily create roaming connections.
Interoperable SGP.32: Comprion and Giesecke+Devrient are to develop interoperable IoT eSIM solutions based on the GSMA SGP.32 specification, enabling vendors to test and validate remote SIM provisioning.
Events
Join this RCR Wireless News‘ event to understand the current state of the Wi-Fi as we examine a myriad of evolving use cases and monetization strategies being deployed by industry. Register now
Industry Resources
Webinar, September 18th
The journey to a fully autonomous network – The evolution of network automation and how Amdocs is leading the way
