Same shtick, different year: massive investments in AI bricks and mortar, and nary a paying resident in sight – all while the telco industry digs holes and erects masts, and trusts the next tenants will have more loose change than the last.
The AI infrastructure frenzy of 2025/6 still looks like a complex derivatives sheet tied to future demand, which shows no clear sign it will materialise. EXA’s acquisition of Aqua Comms is indicative of the race to control every transatlantic lightpath and fiber pair, but its knockdown fire-sale purchase fee, shrewd as it is, says these are deeply troubled waters – like that AI lighthouse everyone is steering for (xAI in Memphis, Softbank with DigitalBridge, and so on and so forth) is not getting much closer. Where are the AI proofs with enterprises? When does AI model accuracy drive a real return? And meanwhile, the generational nip-and-tuck in traditional telecoms continues apace – per Telefonica’s offload in Latin America. Softbank has 60,000 staff and 2.5 million AI agents, it says – and, as somebody said on LinkedIn, there is no word of lay-offs. Regrettably, axing staff is the ultimate measure that AI (automation) works – at least until AI unleashes new business and new growth.
The thing is, in telecoms, axing staff was a trend long before this so-called AI ‘supercycle’ kicked in. And there’s something else, of course: edge AI in enterprises, and device AI in handsets and the like. Aravind Srinivas, chief at US AI outfit Perplexity, has just warned that the latter could hobble some of these grand investments in the bricks and mortar of AI infrastructure. Nothing new, but a timely broadside.
James Blackman
Editor
RCR Wireless News
RCR Top Stories
EXA buys Aqua: UK-based EXA Infrastructure has completed its long-running purchase of Irish subsea fiber specialist Aqua Comms for a knockdown price. The deal strengthens its transatlantic and intra-European routes.
Softbank’s big deal: Softbank is to buy infrastructure provider DigitalBridge for £4bn, aligning with its ambition to support artificial super intelligence by securing the infrastructure required to train and operate AI models globally.
Telefonica sales: Telefónica Tech is to sell its Colombia, Mexico and Chile units to local Latin American firm Hiberus, streamlining its regional structure while maintaining support for multinational clients and its digital operations center.
FR3 explained: New mid-band FR3 spectrum sits between sub-6 GHz and mmWave. It’s designed to extend mid-band capacity upward without some of the same factors that limited mmWave, and is shaping early 6G thinking.
In-flight 5G: US in-flight connectivity specialist Gogo has completed testing of its 5G air‑to‑ground network, and signed its first customer. It is launching commercial services across North America starting imminently.
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
6G and AI in 2026: Organizations that align ambitions with physics in 2026 gain durable advantages; those planning around optimistic narratives instead of constraints learn too late that time, power, and steel do not respond to belief.
LPWAN tipping point: When tech crosses certain adoption thresholds, something changes in the market. This is what has happened to the IoT market with the late scaling of LoRaWAN, says Semtech and the LoRa Alliance.
Global 6 GHz snapshot: Ninety-seven countries now authorize some portion of 6 GHz. But only a subset allows the full 1200 MHz, making global harmonization a gating factor for next-gen Wi-Fi in terms of its capabilities and competitiveness.
Networks not AI-ready: Research commissioned by the newly reorganised vendor finds most tech leaders believe existing infrastructure is unfit for incoming AI – just as Nokia pivots hard toward AI-native networking.
20,000 leagues: Most internet traffic flows through a few submarine fiber-optic cables. These undersea highways connect continents, power cloud and AI workloads, and dwarf terrestrial cross-border networks in scale and importance.
What We're Reading
Handheld AI infra: Perplexity chief Aravind Srinivas has warned that AI running directly on personal devices could disrupt centralized data centers, reducing costly cloud reliance and benefiting companies like Apple and Qualcomm etc.
Alphabet acquisition: Google parent Alphabet has agreed to buy energy and data-center infrastructure provider Intersect for $4.75 billion to accelerate U.S. energy innovation and expand data center capacity for cloud and AI demand.
AI compute empire: Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI has bought a third building to expand its Memphis compute infrastructure, boosting AI training capacity to nearly 2 gigawatts to support its massive Colossus supercomputer push.
Channel reinvention: The rise of enterprise AI ‘factories’ is shifting channel partners from cloud resellers to AI enablers, offering design, deployment, integration, and ongoing support for enterprise-scale AI workloads.
AI hits bankers: European banks could cut 200,000 jobs by 2030 – about 10% of staff – as AI automates tasks and physical branches close, hitting back-office, risk, and compliance roles while boosting efficiency.
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
