Suppose that deals like the Nvidia/Nokia one aren’t what some on Wall Street think they are, cynical mechanisms to boost the companies in the near term. What could they do to actually build real AI benefits? Is there a real, tangible, industry-altering value that could be achieved here, or should we just go back to…
As I noted yesterday, telcos have a historical aversion to “disintermediation”, which is what they call situations when other companies build valuable services on top of telecom services, and those services earn their creators a major profit, where telcos don’t gain anything but low-revenue traffic. There are only two possible solutions to this—either you have…
Why, I wonder (and many even among telcos wonder) are we still debating new technology options for telcos? Wouldn’t a real tech opportunity shout out its effectiveness so clearly as to end all debate? If 5G features will revolutionize telco profits, wouldn’t we see signs of that by now? If AI is going to transform…
How have the mighty cablecos fallen? That’s a critical question for the cable giants, of course, but it’s also a critical question for telcos and even for enterprises. Comcast, in their 3Q25 earnings, reported a loss of over a quarter of a million video customers, over a hundred thousand broadband customers. Charter lost about 70,000…
As some of the tech titans report their earnings, we’re starting to see a possible pattern relating to the value of AI. Google, Meta, and Microsoft all reported earnings on Wednesday of last week, and of the three, only Google saw a positive Street reaction. Meta fared worst of the three. So, what can we…
I’ve been a theoretical fan of AT&T’s idea of “facilitating services” since they first talked about it. I say “theoretical fan” because while I applaud the basic concept, I’ve not been enamored of the specific services they’ve elected to offer. I think they, and telcos in general, have a real opportunity in that space, but…
In the last six months, I’ve heard operators express concern over the diminishing 5G opportunity, and network vendors express concern over the state of operator spending and the fact that 5G is sinking as a driver. The same two groups are working hard to believe that 6G will solve all problems. Of course, that’s what…
Sometimes it’s best to break down something complicated so it can be understood. Sometimes, breaking things down leads to losing the forest concept in a maze of trees. Which of these truths apply to computing, to hosting, and ultimately to networking? We’re likely on the verge of finding out, but not yet quite there, which…
If there’s any point about AI that’s critical, not just important, it’s whether the “real” AI applications evolve and take hold before the hype wears off. If there’s a single company we’d need to watch to answer this, it’s IBM, and they reported earnings last week. IBM has, from the first, represented the AI viewpoint…
As I’ve said a number of times recently, enterprises are still in the throes of learning how to deploy their own AI. The process is complicated because of shifts in the AI model technology (smaller, less demanding models), the ways AI can be trained (foundation models or “bare” models), the framework for use (hosted, hybrid,…