Research

Defining the future telco — and what it means for operators and their partners


Total addressable market for AI solutions in the mobile telco network and OSS: USD18bn by 2030

Mobile operators have used intelligence in their networks and OSS for a while. What has changed recently is how new techniques (e.g., generative AI and/or agentic AI) can be applied, often on top of traditional methods, to accelerate the use of AI in the network domain and move telcos along their journey to higher levels of network autonomy. This forecast estimates the value for vendors of selling AI-enabled solutions to mobile operators to support their network and OSS processes.

Telco cloud deployment tracker Q1 2025: The various flavours of open RAN

Most large-scale deployments of virtualised RAN (vRAN) at Tier 1 telcos are currently based on single-vendor architecture. But operators are deploying vRAN in innovative ways that aim to preserve many open RAN benefits. This report looks at the current status of vRAN and open RAN deployments as well as the increasing awareness of the importance of deploying cloud-native RAN across multiple containers-as-a-service (CaaS) layers.

Future skills tracker report 2025

Telcos need new skill sets to enable their organisations to compete and add value like technology companies. Insights from our Future skills tracker tool show that telcos remain behind techcos in the penetration of key role types and provide direction on the expert capabilities required to become more innovative, agile and technology-driven overall.

Private networks: What’s the big deal?

The hype around private networks has died down and left many with a sense that they have ‘failed’ as a source of new growth. But this market still offers good opportunities for those who know how to find them.

Edge computing market sizing forecast: Fourth release

This report outlines the main findings of our latest quantitative research on the global demand for edge computing services towards 2030. We identify the total revenue across the value chain and explore the growing demand for network, regional and on-premises edge across 20 use cases and 16 verticals globally.

5G: The next phase

The range of optional additional features in 5G has expanded massively since previous generations. This report covers the technology, use cases and timelines for six of the less-discussed domains of 5G evolution – RedCap, sidelink, URLLC and time-sensitive networking, drone connectivity, precise positioning and real-time communication.

MWC 2025: A tech show, not a telecom one

It was no surprise that AI dominated MWC this year. But there were lots of other notable trends on the rise – including cybersecurity and data centres – and some that were disappointingly overlooked. Find out what the STL Partners team saw and missed at MWC 2025.

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