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.
As AI’s energy consumption rises, so do sustainability concerns. This report explores why this technology is so power-intensive, how to mitigate its impact and whether it can help reduce emissions. It also examines four possible scenarios for future energy consumption – from unchecked growth to greater efficiency – and their sustainability implications.
The Telco generative AI adoption tracker is a database of announcements, trials and deployments of generative AI within telcos around the world.
In the latest update, we have added a list of generative AI solutions targeted at telcos.
In light of the fast-evolving climate surrounding edge AI, we take stock of the upside and the downside risks that may move the needle on our recent Edge AI market forecast.
Our latest iteration of the Network edge data centre forecast shows that deployments are gradually bringing this market to life, despite the first early exits happening in 2024. What impact will 5G SA, data regulation and AI have on development of the network edge landscape?
This report analyses the edge computing strategies of the ‘big three’ cloud providers – Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure. We assess how successful they have been at developing solutions across the edge continuum, including on-premise, network and regional edge, and determine who leads this nascent market.
This report analyses the positioning of each of the three hyperscalers – AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure – in the telco vertical (outside of China). We assess how successful they have been at convincing telcos to migrate their business to the public cloud.
Telco cloud deployment activity slowed down in Q2 2024 with only 20 deployments added to the tracker, eight of which were completed in earlier years. The remaining 12 included five 5G NSA cores (four already launched) and three SA cores, all of which we expect to go live by the end of 2024. In this report we analyse the prospects for 5G SA including a deep-dive on the state of deployments on the public cloud.
Partnering offers telcos a way to unlock innovation and uncover monetisation opportunities to help fuel business growth. However, this requires telcos to embrace a different approach to partnering strategy and a more open, trusting mindset.
In this report we outline the extent to which XR applications will leverage the network edge. As XR matures within enterprise and begins to enter the consumer market, the telecoms industry is eager to discover whether it will leverage the network edge.
To move from pipe to platform, telcos must take on a new role as a strategic enabler of their customers’ transformation. Drawing on a recent survey of 1,214 enterprises, this report explores how telcos can effectively evolve by offering managed cloud services to unlock longer-term B2B growth opportunities.
Vendors and hyperscalers want to serve telcos with cloud-native network functions that are public cloud-ready – but there are few takers. What should they do?
Telcos need new skills to change their organisations to compete like technology companies. Insights from our Future skills tracker tool show that telcos are behind techcos in the penetration of key skillsets and provides direction on the capabilities required to become more innovative, agile and software-driven overall.
STL Partners’ Research team present their observations from and analysis of the biggest mobile industry event of the year. There was a lot of buzz around AI and API but behind the tech jargon, we saw evidence that our industry continues to morph to become more open and customer-focused.
Drawing from the experience of Lumen, SK Telecom, Telefónica, Verizon and Vodafone, this report identifies the steps, partnerships and expectations of a successful telco edge strategy.
2023 concluded with 87 telco cloud deployments in our tracker. In this edition, we present the most popular vendor stacks for vRAN/open RAN and the main rationales behind the 11 5G SA launches last year.
Generative AI is expected to create significant value across the telecommunications industry. To capitalise on the opportunity, telcos must build new skills across their organisations. Getting this right is critical given the scale of implementation challenges and the significance of impact on how employees work.