Four things this Monday, from bottom to top, edge to cloud. One: Verizon is to sell Ericsson’s private 5G solutions to multinationals outside of the US for the first time. Which means a two things, at least: that Verizon, as the only US operator with much non-domestic private 5G business (and one of the few anywhere to make a real international play of it) is still serious about the technology, and that Ericsson is too. Which we knew, already – as consistent with both their strategies, as told in these pages. But it is worth repeating here, given the hammering the private 5G market has received in the wider trade press – notably since Nokia called it quits, and since the future of CBRS was called into question. On the former: Verizon will justifiably explain-away the selection of Ericsson as a strategy to give enterprises choice, but it doesn’t look great for Nokia, which has spearheaded its international adventures until now, and is trying to get shot of its private 5G (sorry, enterprise ‘campus’ 5G) unit. On the latter, a who’s-who of third-way spectrum progressives in the US have just declared CBRS as untouchable “by every measurable deployment metric”. Again, worth repeating, for the record. Meanwhile, trendier tech like physical AI is on everyone’s mind.

Two, a step away from the enterprise edge: AT&T has expanded 400G wavelength services to 40 US metro areas and 130 interconnection locations. Which means AI in motion, at 400 Gbps, between data centers, cloud facilities, AI clusters, and enterprise sites – where it may, incidentally, run between certain machines and devices on a private 5G network supplied by Verizon and Ericsson, possibly to animate physical-AI robots and such, before anomalies are harvested and filtered, and run back to the cloud. Something like that; anyway, a different networks-for-AI story from AT&T (this week), focused on its fiber footprint and optical network, and more like the narratives we hear (in these pages) from Lumen and Zayo, and Verizon here and there. This is the here-and-now in AI networking, where Nokia is putting lots of focus, as well – geared to join-up all the mega investments in AI data center and frontier model infrastructure. No mention of public 5G networks from either of them (this week), by comparison. A snapshot of the market, just to show the bigger picture.

Three, way up in the cloud: in case you missed it, the US government has ordered Anthropic to suspend access to its newest and most advanced AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, over national security concerns relating to a potential jailbreak vulnerability. Because Anthropic couldn’t practically restrict access only to certain users, it shut the models off for everyone globally. The significance, here, is not really the vulnerability itself; the significance is that a government directive in one country was able to remove access to a frontier AI model worldwide almost overnight. Which means AI sovereignty has just become a very practical issue – beyond just data residency, but about who owns the frontier model on the top of the stack, and who has charge of its off switch. Single-vendor AI dependency is risky, then. Which is like business continuity 101, and makes the case, again, in all kinds of critical industries for private on-prem corporate control, even beyond national / regional sovereign regulation – just like the case for private 5G.

And four, to bring perspective: Vish has knocked it out of the park again with an excellent analysis of how different telcos in different markets are interpreting the commercial opportunity of sovereign AI.

James Blackman
Executive Editor
RCR Wireless News

RCR Top Stories

Sovereign strategies: As nations build sovereign AI, successful strategies are converging on a formula: controlling critical bottlenecks. The game is to turn power, infra, and regulation into strategic advantage. Vish Nandlall with the analysis.

Anterix tests NTN: Last month, the FCC gave Anterix the go-ahead to test direct-to-device communications with Lynk Global. Testing has already begun, and CEO Scott Lang says the initial results are “terrific”.

AI-RAN goes East: Nokia is now Indosat’s key 5G RAN supplier in a deal that anchors Nvidia’s AI-RAN platform nationwide. Field trials are set for late 2026, with commercial rollout expected in 2027.

NTT’s US DC boost: NTT Global Data Centers is pursuing at least $1 billion for data center projects in the US, underscoring continued investor appetite for AI-driven data center infrastructure development.

KKR eyes AI growth: KKR said discussions with hyperscalers point to rapid data center expansion, while arguing that AI adoption remains in its early stages and power availability will be critical to future growth.

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Beyond the Headlines

PQC urgency: In the latest episode of Pulse, analyst Laura Wilber says advances in quantum computing and AI are shrinking the timeline for operators and enterprises to begin transitioning to post-quantum cryptography.

More DCI growth: Speaking during a recent RCR webinar, AFL’s Noah Taylor said AI is accelerating demand for data center interconnect, changing traffic patterns, and increasing the importance of deployment speed and density.

Telco tokenomics: Telecom tokenomics transforms OSS/BSS, and cuts data costs via edge processing, network slicing, and AI optimization. AT&T is leading the charge with major savings via tokenized AI and reduced LLM costs overall.

CSPs need PQC: Sean Kinney explains how CSPs are adopting post-quantum cryptography (PQC) and hybrid quantum-safe networks, highlighting AT&T’s gradual migration to SD-WAN PQC to protect data and future-proof security.

WPA2 to WPA3: Cisco says enterprises must move beyond WPA2 to WPA3 and strengthen wireless security through SAE, forward secrecy, and Wi-Fi 7 – to enable resilient zero-trust-ready mobility across modern security architecture.

What We’re Reading

Verizon taps Ericsson: Verizon is selling Ericsson’s private 5G outside of the US – to multinational enterprises in territories the US carrier has previously reserved for Nokia. A good deal for Ericsson, and continued momentum for Verizon.

AT&T metro boost: AT&T has expanded 400G wavelength services to new US metros, promising “edgeless handoff” across 440,000 properties serving more than 2.3 million business tenants, and rapid deployment within 15 days.

Big CBRS defense: A timely report by Spectrum for the Future, 5G-OT Alliance, American-Made 5G, OnGo Alliance, and WISPA says CBRS is “by every metric” the most widely utilized mid-band spectrum in the US. A robust defense.

Opportunity knocks: TM Forum says sovereign AI is moving fast, – 77% of CSPs see commercial opportunity and 72% are investing. The next battleground is not infrastructure, but control of AI in motion, it says. The industry needs to act, fast.

Zero-trust IoT: NTT Docomo, Transatel, and Zscaler are launching cellular SASE for IoT, a Japan-first solution combining global mobile and zero-trust security, using SIM-based protection instead of VPNs or device software.

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