Here’s a(nother) really good piece from Adlane about the Cambium collapse – a problem for a fixed wireless industry that has spent 15 years building around its radios. 2026 data from Preseem puts Cambium at 39.5% of connected subscriber radios in its ISP sample, including a hefty share in dense sectors that might make replacements costly and disruptive. The squeeze had been building. Tarana captured high-capacity upgrade demand, while Starlink took some of the marginal subscribers who once justified another WISP sector. Cambium was left defending an aging installed base as supply and financial pressures mounted. I have just got off a webinar session with Mimosa Networks, which said in the pre-amble before going live that the whole sorry tale was on the cards – as Adlane, close to the sector, said in his previous piece also. For PMP 450 operators, Airspan’s takeover is a reprieve. But its own financial history, the absence of ePMP from the deal, and unanswered questions over software support leave plenty of risk – argues Adlane. Plus, Airspan is taking pieces for its  mission critical services in licensed bands. Adlane says the lesson extends beyond Cambium: vendor concentration is now an operational liability. WISPs need migration plans, spare hardware and alternatives before the next supplier falters.

Meanwhile, and quickly – in other news… There is a proper wireless story in there from the WBA (and FIDO Alliance) about zero-touch IoT onboarding. The trial is far more interesting than usual standards-body missives. As well, the GSA, which has the definitive gauge on the private wireless market, says 2,031 organizations in 88 countries worldwide are now deploying private 4G/5G – which feels like a landmark, at least. The normal counting rules apply: these are all sizeable systems, in the context, worth over €100,000 each; they are from audited-ish sources, but are also incomplete (one vendor didn’t submit, and one made a bit of hash) – which only goes to reinforce that the market has proper momentum. Despite Nokia’s weird about-turn. Compound growth is at 37% since 2019 – which might be an advance on not very much, but appears to be on track. A further 180 references are worth between €50,000 and €100,000. Also in the broad IoT church: the LoRa Alliance, on stage at the brilliant The Things Conference (wish I was there), says there are 150 million (connected) LoRaWAN devices globally, growing at an average rate of 25% per year. So those are healthy markets, IoT and private 5G (often for IoT) – hard still, but bouncing on the physical AI buzz. What else? Yes, of more mainstream concerns, Vodafone and Ericsson have run AI language translation and noise cancellation on mobile calls, no strings attached – interesting for telco AI etc, but still a demo.