Table of Contents
Lots going on today, which is captured below, or rounded-up tomorrow. But here’s a smart 2,000-word write-up of AT&T’s position and strategy, including about its productive bundling strategy, potential fiber acquisitions, and AI grid development, with at least a couple of Starlink broadsides thrown in for good measure – all taken from its Q3 scores. It’s late, and getting dark; the lads are on half-term, the dogs need a walk. So I’m handing over to AI to summarize – on the grounds this gets pasted on social media anyway, where AI verbiage is king. Here are five (human-edited) takeaways…
1. Convergence is driving growth, but fiber economics remain under pressure.
AT&T added more than a million fiber, fixed wireless and mobile connections for the second consecutive quarter. Advanced connectivity service revenue rose 6.1% to $23.9 billion, but fiber ARPU fell 4%.
2. Fber acquisitions are possible, but price and geography dictate the terms.
AT&T is open to buying more assets where they extend its footprint and create scale. He ruled out buying infrastructure simply for the sake of it, while leaving wholesale access as a longer-term option once retail opportunities are exhausted.
3. AI is a connectivity opportunity, not a plan to become a GPU landlord.
Over 90% of US data centers are within 10 miles of AT&T’s fiber network. Its opportunity is higher-margin managed connectivity across fixed and mobile, businesses and cloud platforms, although the revenue potential remains unproven.
4. Starlink can help at the edges, but terrestrial is best where traffic is dense.
AT&T points to indoor traffic, dense urban coverage and AT&T’s existing low-band spectrum to argue satellite providers cannot replicate its network. LEO tech is complementary, particularly in less-dense areas where terrestrial is too expensive.
5. Investment is substantial, and the financial returns still need to follow.
AT&T is targeting more than 60m fiber locations by the end of the decade, backed by its Lumen acquisition, a planned fiber JV, and Corning supply deal. It expects lower annual cap-ex from 2027, but net leverage rose to 3.13 times.
James Blackman
Executive Editor
RCR Wireless News
RCR Top Stories
AT&T scores: AT&T chief John Stankey talked fiber and 5G convergence, fiber acquisitions, and future grid infra to connect AI workloads; he also pushed back on Starlink as a terrestrial threat – amid a decent-looking Q3.
AI-RAN push: Nokia chief Justin Hotard says AI-RAN is nearing commercial deployment as radio networks grow 10%, while AI and cloud demand strengthens Nokia’s broader network infrastructure business.
6G everywhere? Ubiquitous doesn’t mean broadband everywhere. 6G experts at RCR’s 6G Forum backed integration over a single network architecture, arguing ubiquitous connectivity should rather deliver application-specific services.
6G, in 2040: 6G networks must build-in adaptable QoS mechanisms to handle evolving AI traffic, says Qualcomm – from multimodal assistants to physical AI, while also preserving operator control and improving resource efficiency.
Path to AN L4: Autonomous networks must move beyond self-healing to coordinate decisions across RAN, transport, core, and cloud, argues Droma – with trust, governance, and verified outcomes key to granting AI greater authority.
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, and AI: Nvidia and Nokia are pushing telcos to turn networks and sites into AI infra, but the business case is hazy. AT&T’s latest results offer a firmer reminder: connectivity still pays – even while Musk plots noisily in the background.
6G to the rescue: Ericsson forecasts surging uplink demand as AI shifts mobile traffic patterns, urging operators to avoid 5G’s costly standalone delays. Its 6G vision hinges on spectrum efficiency, reusable infras, and bankable new services.
Starlink ‘billions’: SpaceX has outlined more plans, almost, for a hybrid Starlink network and claimed a path to hundreds of billions in connectivity revenue besides – as its AI cap-ex surged, along with revenue, and bandwidth demand is going up, up.
DT scales agents: Deutsche Telekom is expanding agentic AI from RAN Guardian’s event-driven network optimization to MINDR, a cross-domain platform designed to diagnose and remediate network issues with human oversight.
Handoff issues: A blunt verdict from RCR‘s NTN Integration Forum: acquisition and attachment are solved, but seamless handoff across to terrestrial networks and across satellite providers still runs on standards, silicon and spectrum.
What We're Reading
CoreWeave crash? Worth a read: CoreWeave’s debt troubles are a worry for AI infra financing. Despite $10bn in customer commitments, its losses and borrowing raise questions about whether neo-clouds etc are sustainable.
RAN spending: RAN automation spending will reach $1.1bn by 2030, growing 9% annually, as operators adopt AI-driven optimisation, open RAN controllers, and autonomous network management.
Utility downtime: Nine in 10 utillities in the UK are facing downtime, says a new Ericsson report. A quarter say security is compromised at remote sites because they can’t access live feeds, and poor comms increase risks to worker safety.
P5G review: GSMA reviews twin decisions by Nokia and Ericsson to sell and rejig their private 5G units, describing a “new phase” rather than a retreat for either company. “The market continues, but its shape is evolving,” it writes.
Route diversity: DE-CIX has completed a three-route gateway connecting the Middle East and Southeast Europe with Central Europe. New connectivity between Sofia and Frankfurt is now live, with a direct connection between Sofia and Istanbul.
Latest RCRtv Interviews
Events
RCR Roundtables AI Infrastructure, October 21st, Dallas, Texas
Join 50 senior data center, energy and AI leaders at the Ritz-Carlton Dallas on October 21 for invitation-only roundtables on powering and scaling AI. Request your invitation
Industrial Wireless Forum, November 10th, Virtual
From private 5G, Wi-Fi and public cellular to edge AI, spectrum, next-generation IoT and sensing, the forum examines the infrastructure choices and practical challenges shaping the future of industrial operations. Register now
AI Infrastructure Forum, December 8th, Virtual
Join RCRTech’s AI Infrastructure Forum to explore how telcos, hyperscalers and data centres can compete or partner as AI shifts to inference, and who captures the value when every token counts. Register now
Industry Resources
RCRTech Trend
Rise of Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN)
