Here’s the best bit from T-Mobile’s earnings call following another high-quality quarter; it echoes Verizon’s response to the same question yesterday, about networks-for-AI and AI-for-networks, and is worth comparing. But T-Mobile’s response is even punchier, and, based on a developing portfolio, the one-time agitator-brand in US telecoms is starting to look like a genuine contender in the enterprise market. Anyway, here’s John Saw, president of technology, covering all the ground RCR has been discussing in these pages for six months, or more.
“We are more than prepared… We are the only ones to have rolled out 5G Advanced… We have a bunch of innovations… to increase spectral efficiency and capacity, especially for the uplink… This is why the latest Apple and Samsung phones perform best on our network. But we didn’t build 5G Advanced just for faster phones. We built it for physical AI… And now that we have [the] network, we can take on the extra capabilities… to support edge inferencing for physical AI better than anybody else… We have a multi-year advantage over the competition for this.”
There’s much more in the write-up below. Verizon’s response to the same question
James Blackman
Executive Editor
RCR Wireless News
RCR Top Stories
Fighting talk: T-Mobile US signed off another good quarter with fighting talk about acquisition strategies and accounting habits at AT&T and Verizon, and claims its 5G network and compute build-out will be the best in the business for physical AI.
China squeeze: China Mobile has posted modest revenue growth and declining profit in the first quarter of 2026, as competition, weak demand, and structural challenges in computing services weigh on its transition beyond connectivity.
6G use cases: Qualcomm says the case for 6G is about building a network platform that can sense the environment, support distributed AI inference and model the real world in software.
DC microgrids: Private power microgrids for data centers are letting operators generate and manage energy on-site to bypass grid constraints, improve reliability, and accelerate AI infrastructure deployment amid surging electricity demand.
AI backlash: Google’s Pentagon AI deal has sparked a staff backlash over potential misuse, echoing Anthropic’s dispute after it refused to relax safety limits and highlighting tensions with military demand for AI and corporate guardrails.
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Beyond the Headlines
Chip agents: Cadence Design Systems has a new agentic AI platform for end-to-end chip design; it uses ‘super agents’ that are coordinated by a central orchestrator to automate complex tasks across analog, digital, and 3D-IC workflows.
SGP.32 growth: IoT is changing with eSIM and SGP.32, says Aeris – and opening the enterprise IoT market for mobile operators to target new vertical segments beyond traditional M2M disciplines like automotive and fleet tracking.
Summer of AI: Verizon will follow strong quarterly growth this winter with a summer of AI, with a brand new tech stack to drive further network automation and customer (micro-) segmentation to drive costs, service, and telco change.
The kill switch: BT has reframed the sovereignty debate: data sovereignty is largely secured, tech sovereignty is unrealistic, and operational sovereignty is about resilience, he said – about who controls the “off switch” when systems fail.
6G-based NTN: As the telecom industry moves toward 6G commercialization in 2029, Qualcomm is to make non-terrestrial networks a foundational part of the future system rather than a niche extension of terrestrial network coverage.
What We’re Reading
NTN broadband: T-Mobile has a new ‘SuperBroadband’ bundle for enterprises, combining 5G FWA with Starlink satellite backup for always-on business internet; it is targeting rural and multi-site enterprises.
UK D2D rise: Ookla has analyzed the rapid emergence of the D2D satellite market in the UK. Following VMO2’s launch of O2 Satellite, the UK is the world’s third-largest D2D market by unique-user count, trailing only the US and Australia.
Enterprise agents: NTT Data has a multi-vendor agentic service using AI agents to orchestrate operations, provide real-time insights, and enable natural-language interaction, helping enterprises improve resilience and cut costs.
Asia inference: Nokia, Blaize, and Datacomm Diangraha are to deploy hybrid AI inference infra across Indonesia and Southeast Asia, combining telco-grade networks, energy-efficient edge AI compute, and local IT expertise.
HaLow proofs: WBA trials in Japan show Wi-Fi HaLow delivers long-range, low-power IoT connectivity with stable multi-device performance and reduced infrastructure needs across diverse environments – as always promised.
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