
Tariffs and telcos: Uncertainty and long-term moves
No one can foresee how and when import tariffs will stabilise – but some
long-term implications are starting to arise.
No one can foresee how and when import tariffs will stabilise – but some
long-term implications are starting to arise.
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.
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.
Ten years of private network deployments tracked in our global insights tool.
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.
DTW24 showed a telecoms industry ready to face reality and making quiet progress. This progress may not go far or fast enough to change the future of the industry, but either way AI will play a big role.
The telecoms industry is awash with talk of the revenue opportunity from network exposure. This report highlights the main findings from our recently released network API monetisation market forecast tool, focusing on the use cases and APIs which will generate long-term growth.
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?
Telco cloud activity in 2024 is showing signs of growing momentum with 72 deployments in the year to date, in contrast to 90 for the whole of 2023. Even though many of these deployments are announced but yet to complete in 2024, there are improving prospects for vRAN and open RAN, alongside a positive outlook for 5G standalone.
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.
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.
Fixed operators see network disaggregation as a way to reduce deployment and operational costs, remove vendor lock-in, and combine residential, business and other types of access into a single infrastructure. This report examines progress and learnings from early movers.
As operators embark on their telco cloud journeys, what should they look out for and what lessons can they learn from others? This report analyses the strategies and progress of four operators leading the way in telco cloud transformation and sheds light on the lessons learned from their initial deployments.
The industry is still on track to deliver 5G Standalone and various types of virtualised RAN – but progress is a lot slower than originally expected. In this update of the Telco Cloud Deployment Tracker, we look beneath the hood of the numbers to assess what if anything will accelerate growth in 2024.
In this update, we present data and analysis on progress with deployments of vRAN and open RAN. It is fair to say that open RAN (virtualised AND disaggregated RAN) deployments have not happened at the pace that STL Partners and many others had forecast. In parallel, some very significant deployments and developments are occurring with vRAN (virtualised NOT disaggregated RAN). Is open RAN a networking ideal that is not yet, or never will be, deployed in its purest form?
In this update, we present granular data on the 5G core, tracking the progress of deployments of both Non-standalone (NSA) and Standalone (SA) network cores. We recorded 49 5G core deployments so far in 2022, 24 of which are SA launches.
We explore the recent developments in the private network market, regulatory activities and policies on local and shared spectrum, and the different deployment approaches and business cases for traditional telcos and the expanding range of other stakeholders.