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AT&T taps Amazon Leo for business satellite play

9 September 2026 at 09:52

AT&T Business and Amazon Leo reached a deal to bring satellite broadband to enterprise and public sector customers, with the company becoming the first major US operator to employ the low Earth orbit (LEO) network in a bundled set-up including fibre and 5G.

The operator plans to offer the connectivity as a fully managed service on top of its existing terrestrial networks. Customers would get one bill, one point of contact and round-the-clock customer service.

AT&T is to provide the equipment to connect to the satellites.

Shawn Hakl, AT&T Business SVP and head of product, said enterprise and public sector customers need a platform which delivers reliable connectivity across fibre, 5G and satellite in a single managed architecture.

Chris Weber, VP of Amazon Leo Business and Product, said the satellite network adds resilience to the network.

AT&T stated the companies are “moving through a structured, phased deployment designed to ensure business-grade reliability before broad availability”.

It plans to issue pricing and configuration details in the coming months.

The explosion of a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket in May could put the timeline for the launch of the AT&T Business closer to 2027: the rocket company is repairing damage to a launchpad and aims to restore operations by the end of the year.

Amazon Leo is simultaneously pushing into direct-to-device (D2D) connectivity, seeking regulatory approval to deploy up to 5,105 satellites, with deployment scheduled to begin in 2028.

All three major US operators are involved in various D2D moves through deals with Amazon Leo, SpaceX and AST SpaceMobile, along with collaborating to close coverage gaps.

AT&T Business is bidding to differentiate by bundling the connectivity option.

The post AT&T taps Amazon Leo for business satellite play appeared first on Mobile World Live.

Apple hit with $2.7 billion class action lawsuit over alleged anti-competitive app tracking transparency

3 September 2026 at 19:30
With App Tracking Transparency, apps are now required to get a user’s permission to track or access their device’s advertising identifier.
With App Tracking Transparency, apps are required to get a user’s permission to track or access their device’s advertising identifier.

Apple is facing a massive £2 billion ($2.7 billion) collective lawsuit in the UK, accused of abusing its dominant position in the smartphone market by enforcing unfair privacy rules that hobbled rival app developers while boosting its own advertising empire.

The class-action claim, filed Thursday at London’s Competition Appeal Tribunal by ATT Collective Action Limited, alleges that the tech giant’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework introduced in 2021 placed stringent restrictions on third-party developers while giving its own internal services a distinct competitive edge.

Privacy Feature or Self-Serving Gatekeeping?

Apple launched the ATT framework in 2021, marketing it as a privacy-first feature designed to give users control over whether third-party apps could track their browsing and usage activity across other companies’ apps and websites.

However, lawyers and claimants behind the action argue that Apple operated under a double standard. While third-party developers faced a mandatory prompt that dramatically curtailed opt-in rates for targeted advertising, Apple’s own ad platform operated under far less restrictive conditions—gathering user data without imposing the same burdensome consent friction on users.

“Apple’s policy resulted in very significant harm to businesses that depend on Apple as a gatekeeper,” said Ann Pope, a former senior official with Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) who is leading the litigation. “This action is important to protect the rights of British businesses that depend on Apple, to ensure that the rules that Apple applies are fair, and to compensate the losses that British companies have suffered.”

Under the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal’s opt-out regime, the class action covers all affected UK-based developers automatically unless they choose to explicitly opt out.

Growing Regulatory Scrutiny Across Europe

The London claim is part of a broader regulatory backlash against Apple’s privacy policies across Europe. Multiple antitrust watchdogs have investigated whether the iPhone maker used privacy safeguards as a shield for self-preferencing:

• Germany: Germany’s Federal Cartel Office launched an abuse-of-dominance probe into ATT, which resulted in Apple agreeing to modify its ad-tracking data rules for developers.

• France & Italy: Competition regulators in France and Italy previously levied major fines—exceeding £150 million and £98 million respectively—over anti-competitive practices tied to user consent frameworks.

• Broad Industry Pushback: Major platforms dependent on ad targeting, including Meta (formerly Facebook), alongside news publishers and independent mobile developers, have long criticized ATT for disproportionately choking off revenue models reliant on digital ads.
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MacDailyNews Take: Apple has historically defended ATT as a core consumer feature aimed solely at granting users transparent choices over their personal data.

The outcome of the tribunal proceedings could set a major precedent for digital gatekeeper regulation across Europe, adding to a slew of ongoing legal challenges regarding App Store fees and ecosystem dominance.


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The post Apple hit with $2.7 billion class action lawsuit over alleged anti-competitive app tracking transparency appeared first on MacDailyNews.

AT&T taps Ericsson for 600MHz spectrum rollout

6 August 2026 at 15:01

AT&T picked vendor partner Ericsson to supply 600MHz dual-band radios as it works to put newly acquired spectrum from EchoStar to use across its wireless network.

The operator stated the move is part of its ongoing effort to boost capacity, coverage, and performance nationwide, with a particular focus on improving reliability in harder-to-reach places, including indoors and in rural areas.

AT&T explained the 600MHz spectrum is especially valuable because it can travel farther and penetrate buildings more effectively than some higher-frequency spectrum, helping customers stay connected in more locations, whether at home, at work, or on the move.

It is more than 60% of the way through a broader wireless network modernisation effort. In areas already upgraded with Ericsson infrastructure, AT&T said customers are seeing up to a twofold improvement in average speeds, a 10% reduction in dropped and blocked calls, and up to a 70% reduction in instances of slower data speeds. Standardising equipment at the top of cell towers has also cut uplink interference by as much as 80%, the operator said.

Ericsson was selected through an open, competitive process to supply the 600MHz dual-band radios, which will enable the operator to deploy uplink-enhancing 8RX technology across low-band spectrum for the first time.

AT&T noted the work is designed to strengthen the network for AI-driven applications, including content creation, sharing, and real-time interaction, building on the companies’ previously announced collaboration to accelerate open RAN deployment.

“We’re more than halfway through our wireless network modernisation, and we’re executing to plan,” said Yigal Elbaz, SVP and Network CTO at AT&T. “By combining our newly acquired 600MHz spectrum with Ericsson’s advanced radios, we’re improving coverage and performance for customers today while building a more modern, flexible network for the future.”

Dyon Agnew, SVP and head of Customer Unit AT&T at Ericsson Americas, said the deployment demonstrates the impact open architectures can have on performance at scale, adding that the two companies are working to deliver faster speeds and more consistent coverage across the US.

AT&T said it will share further details on timing and commercial availability of the 600MHz deployment at a later date.

It received final approval for the $23 billion EchoStar deal in July 2026. AT&T started deploying the 3.45GHz spectrum it bought from EchoStar last year through a short-term spectrum manager lease.

The post AT&T taps Ericsson for 600MHz spectrum rollout appeared first on Mobile World Live.

Apple Fires Engineer Who Kept Customer Device IDs Private

4 August 2026 at 19:58

Ryan Merket (Hacker News, PDF):

The company said his performance was the reason, according to a lawsuit Boardman filed in San Francisco Superior Court. Boardman says that explanation was a pretext. His version of the story begins three years earlier, inside Apple’s technical relationship with the largest wireless carriers in the United States, with a category of data capable of identifying nearly every phone on the network.

[…]

Apple considered serial numbers and IMEIs personally identifiable information under its internal policies, Boardman alleges. Representatives working with carriers other than AT&T required the carrier to obtain a customer release before Apple supplied the data. The Apple representative assigned to AT&T did not enforce that requirement, according to the complaint. Boardman says the identifiers were then transmitted through “unsecured email communications.”

He reported the practice to his manager and sought guidance from Apple’s legal department. He alleges that the company never gave him a written response.

I don’t think he has much of a legal case. Apple was probably within its rights to fire him if what he refused to do was against company policy but not illegal. It doesn’t sound like Apple is disputing that, at least not yet.

However, I think this is interesting because:

  • This seems to be another case, like yesterday’s story, where the interests of the customer and the carrier are at odds, and Apple leans towards the latter.

  • It shows that a policy is no guarantee, because it depends on humans choosing to follow it. There are other cases where Apple has been able to engineer privacy into the system. But some data is not end-to-end encrypted, so consent is a formal but a not technical requirement.

Previously:

Azio taps AT&T for fibre link to Texas AI campus

31 July 2026 at 15:41

Infrastructure company Azio AI Holdings signed a master services agreement (MSA) with AT&T worth roughly $2.4 million to provide enterprise fibre connectivity for its first AI data centre campus.

The deal covers a 500-megawatt site and establishes a standardised connectivity framework across the campus, delivering the high-capacity, low-latency network infrastructure needed to support AI training, inference, GPU cloud computing, enterprise colocation, and other high-performance computing workloads.

Azio said the connectivity buildout is intended to streamline network deployment as it brings on additional customers under its hyperscale AI strategy. The company pointed to a recent power purchase and hosting agreement with a GPU customer, which it said will require a rapid, modular buildout at the Texas site.

“This agreement establishes the networking framework supporting our initial 500-megawatt Texas AI platform while creating a scalable operating model that can support future expansion as additional projects move forward under our hyperscale AI strategy,” Azio COO Elgin Tracy stated.

The company’s broader strategy centres on scalable, liquefied natural gas-backed energy capacity intended to meet rising demand for GPU cloud and AI workloads.

It stated the Texas site was picked in part due to the location being able accommodate large-scale industrial infrastructure without the land-use and community constraints which can complicate data centre projects in urban areas.

The agreement adds AT&T to the growing list of telecoms operators positioning themselves as connectivity partners for the AI infrastructure buildout, as data centre operators race to secure the fibre capacity needed to link GPU clusters to enterprise and hyperscale customers.

Azio did not disclose a timeline for construction completion or when the Texas campus is expected to become operational.

The post Azio taps AT&T for fibre link to Texas AI campus appeared first on Mobile World Live.

AT&T rolls out dedicated SA 5G core for FirstNet

31 July 2026 at 09:10

AT&T switched on a dedicated standalone (SA) 5G core for public safety network FirstNet, which the operator described as the first and only such nationwide network built specifically for first responders.

The new core is physically separate from AT&T’s commercial network infrastructure, a design intended to give public safety agencies greater security, reliability and control over their connectivity.

AT&T stated the architecture was shaped by feedback from first responders and is intended to meet operational needs which differ meaningfully from everyday consumer use.

Scott Agnew, president of FirstNet at AT&T, said the SA core was purpose-built around the mission of public safety rather than adapted from a consumer network.

“This milestone keeps America’s public safety network strong for the future, because when our first responders succeed, our communities are safer.”

AT&T stated the dedicated core functions as the central nervous system for the FirstNet network, keeping public safety traffic separate from commercial traffic.

It runs across multiple geographically-distributed core sites to add redundancy, an approach AT&T stated improves performance and resilience.

The upgrade also brings faster upload data rates and improved responsiveness, capabilities AT&T stated are increasingly necessary as first responders adopt connected tools including body-worn cameras and mission-critical communications applications.

Security beyond the standard measures used on commercial networks is built into the core.

Access is restricted to devices using a FirstNet SIM, which it stated protects subscriber data from potential attackers, while a dedicated security operations centre monitors the network around the clock for threats.

Adaptive Mission Performance
AT&T positioned the service as groundwork for a broader initiative called Adaptive Mission Performance to tailor network performance to specific public safety applications and use cases rather than relying on a single network slice from commercial infrastructure.

The operator stated it plans to deploy the capabilities over time as more subscribers migrate to the new core.

FirstNet subscribers are already being transitioned to the new core at no additional cost.

While laying claim to a nationwide launch, AT&T did note the service requires a compatible device and plan, and it is not available everywhere.

The operator deployed its SA 5G core in 2025, five years later than T-Mobile US.

Verizon Frontline rolled out its service in select markets in 2025.

T-Mobile and Verizon are using their SA 5G cores to provide network slicing for first responders.

The post AT&T rolls out dedicated SA 5G core for FirstNet appeared first on Mobile World Live.

T-Mobile US dominates Opensignal network awards

22 July 2026 at 16:48

T-Mobile US won the most categories in Opensignal’s latest network experience report, which also examined the performance of AT&T and Verizon over a 90-day period during a window which included the FIFA World Cup.

Opensignal stated the Q2 research covered tested operators’ ability to manage network congestion both at stadiums and across host cities.

Verizon, as the World Cup’s official telecommunications sponsor, deployed private 5G and fixed wireless access to support broadcast and retail operations at venues, alongside investment in surrounding communities.

AT&T launched a premium Turbo Live service in January to ease congestion at live events and introduced a World Cup eSIM for visiting fans, while T-Mobile rolled out new Dynamic CX capabilities on its AI-powered self-organising network and promoted its T-Priority service for first responders.

Opensignal pointed to a Federal Communications Commission spectrum auction in June, a re-auction of mid-band licences previously held by Dish Network, as a key factor shaping future capacity.

On network performance, T-Mobile won best download speed outright at 192.5Mb/s, nearly 97Mb/s ahead of second-placed AT&T at 96Mb/s and Verizon third at 89.4Mb/s.

T-Mobile also led the 5G download speed category at 247.4Mb/s, ahead of AT&T’s 223.5Mb/s and Verizon’s 179.2Mb/s, and swept both upload speed (16 Mb/s) and 5G upload speed (19.2 Mb/s) awards.

In reliability and consistency, T-Mobile won reliability experience with 942 points, narrowly ahead of AT&T’s 939 and Verizon’s 932, and led consistent quality at 82.8%, ahead of Verizon’s 80.4% and AT&T’s 79.4%.

Coverage
Verizon won the coverage experience award outright with 9.7 points out of 10, narrowly ahead of AT&T, while T-Mobile was ranked third, but won 5G coverage with 8.5 points.

AT&T topped time on network at 99.6%, though T-Mobile led 5G Availability at 91.8%, with Verizon closing the gap significantly, up seven percentage points from the prior report.

For video and gaming, T-Mobile won video experience and live video experience, while Verizon took top honours across 5G video experience and 5G live video Experience. T-Mobile also swept both games experience and 5G games experience awards.

All told, T-Mobile won 12 out of the 16 categories.

The post T-Mobile US dominates Opensignal network awards appeared first on Mobile World Live.

AT&T posts record Q2 fibre, FWA additions

22 July 2026 at 16:13

AT&T reported a 2.3% year-over-year revenue increase to $31.6 billion in Q2, driven by net adds across fibre, fixed wireless access (FWA) and post-paid phone subscribers.

While slightly below analysts’ estimates, the small increase was driven largely by growth in Advanced Connectivity fibre and wireless revenues, including the impact of AT&T’s first-quarter acquisition of Lumen’s mass markets fibre business.

The operator added more than 1 million Advanced Connectivity customers during the quarter. Advanced Connectivity service revenue grew 5.1% year-over-year to $23.5 billion.

AT&T rolls its fibre broadband, FWA, post-paid phone and business fibre services into its Advanced Connectivity category.

It recorded 646,000 total consumer and business internet net adds, comprised of 367,000 fibre and 279,000 FWA connections, marking a record quarter for combined fibre and fixed wireless additions.

Post-paid phone net adds totalled 432,000 to top analysts’ projections of 338,500, according to FactSet.

AT&T chair and CEO John Stankey (pictured) noted on the earnings call those additions mark the strongest consumer post-paid wireless account growth in more than three years. Post-paid churn of 0.86% was down slightly from 0.87% a year ago.

Stankey has long been a proponent of a converged strategy of wireless and fibre services as a key differentiator for the company.

“At the end of the second quarter, 42.5% of our advanced home Internet customers also have a post-paid wireless account with AT&T,” he said on the earnings call. “This convergence rate reached 45% when excluding customers within our acquired footprint from Lumen.

“These are high lifetime value subscribers, and our strong customer growth is a key driver of our accelerated financial growth during the second quarter,” he added.

The operator added more than 1 million total consumer and business fibre locations, bringing its total to 38.6 million. Stankey said it remains on track to exceed 40 million fibre locations by the end of 2026 and more than 60 million by 2030.

Income from continuing operations rose 3.6% to $5.0 billion, while adjusted EBITDA climbed 5.2% to $12.3 billion.

Stankey stated the results demonstrate the company’s structural advantages heading into the next era of connectivity, and confirmed AT&T is accelerating planned share repurchases to approximately $10 billion this year.

SpaceX
The AT&T chief was asked about forging a wholesale agreement with Elon Musk-owned SpaceX but he stated AT&T does not see a need for satellite service as a core part of its distribution strategy because it already handles more than 98% of traffic across its converged customer network.

“I don’t feel a need right now that I need to have a satellite partner as a main distribution vehicle for me because I don’t think it addresses a part of the market that I can’t get to on my own,” he said.

Stankey pointed to the joint venture AT&T formed with Verizon and T-Mobile US, stating it allows the operators to work with multiple satellite operators, including SpaceX, Amazon, and AST SpaceMobile, for the small percentage of coverage which falls outside their terrestrial networks.

“By the time we get into next year, we will have solved for that other 2% and we will be in the market doing what customers want, which is providing them the assurance that they can buy from one provider and always be on the internet,” he said.

The post AT&T posts record Q2 fibre, FWA additions appeared first on Mobile World Live.

California says AT&T lied to FCC in attempt to shut off old phone network

17 June 2026 at 21:07

California state regulators say AT&T lied to the Federal Communications Commission in an attempt to shut off its old copper phone network without providing an adequate replacement.

"AT&T asserts that California seeks to prohibit or hinder wireline carriers from discontinuing copper facilities and investing in fiber," said a June 15 filing by the state of California and the California Public Utilities Commission. "Indeed, AT&T has been making this argument for years. It is not and has never been true."

As we reported last month, AT&T sued California over the state’s refusal to let it stop providing phone service to all potential customers in its wireline network territory. AT&T also petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to declare that California cannot enforce its rules and to let AT&T stop providing service to about 199,000 phone customers.

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© Getty Images | KoldoyChris

AT&T appoints new CFO

17 June 2026 at 11:49

AT&T named former McAfee executive Jennifer Biry as its next CFO, replacing Pascal Desroches who is set to retire at the end of the year.

In a regulatory filing, AT&T explained Biry will first take the position of deputy CFO, effective 6 July 2026, before assuming the role as senior EVP and CFO from 1 January 2027.

Biry has served as CFO and COO of security company McAfee since October 2023. Before that, she had a long career at AT&T spanning 22 years in numerous positions across sales, finance and strategy.

As part of this tenure, Biry had an 18-month stint as CFO of WarnerMedia when it was owned by AT&T.

Desroches has been CFO of the US operator for five years, taking on the position in 2021. Before this, he held positions across the WarnerMedia group.

During his time as AT&T’s finance chief Desroches has led a cost cutting drive and moved to simplify the operator’s balance sheet, while taking on major investment in 5G and fibre.

The post AT&T appoints new CFO appeared first on Mobile World Live.

AT&T extends 400G network to meet AI traffic surge

16 June 2026 at 08:59

AT&T Business expanded the reach of its 400G wavelength connectivity into 16 additional US metropolitan areas, extending the service as enterprises face mounting pressure to support AI-era traffic at scale.

With the 400G wavelength edgeless handoff capability now live across 440,000 properties serving more than 2.3 million business tenants, the mobile operator is targeting rapid deployment within 15 days where eligible.

AT&T stated the 400G rollout is designed to connect AI workloads from any location to the cloud, with security embedded in the network rather than added on top.

The company’s edgeless design approach anchors 400G at key interconnection hubs where cloud, network and enterprise traffic converge. It is currently in more than 130 carrier hotel locations nationwide.

The architecture is intended to deliver consistent handoff and predictable performance without requiring traditional network edge builds at every location or data centre.

Amrit Singh, industry principal for information communications technology at Frost & Sullivan, stated AT&T’s wavelength services reflect the infrastructure rigour required for the AI era, citing the company’s fibre reach and a successful 1.6 Tb/s single-carrier wavelength trial.

For enterprises scaling AI across multiple sites, AT&T noted the ability to avoid stitching together multiple smaller circuits as workloads grow is a key benefit for the service.

Branch locations, campuses and edge environments requiring high-capacity connectivity to centralised compute and cloud services are among the primary use cases for the service.

The post AT&T extends 400G network to meet AI traffic surge appeared first on Mobile World Live.

Cash App’s launching a phone service

11 June 2026 at 14:00
An illustration of three phones showing Cash App pages

Cash App's AT&T-based MVNO will offer an unlimited 5G data plan for $40 per month including taxes and fees. The new mobile service is powered by Gigs, the same firm behind the Klarna mobile service that launched last year with the same pricing and is "rolling out to select users, with broader availability planned in the coming months."

Cash App also says it's planning connections to its Cash App Green rewards program and Cash App Families, its setup for managing supervised child and teen accounts.

Cash App Mobile:

Beyond unlimited connectivity: Cash App, the #1 personal finance app in the US2, plans to deepen how Mobile connects to t …

Read the full story at The Verge.

AT&T launches $3 daily iPad data pass

11 June 2026 at 10:15

AT&T unveiled a 24-hour unlimited wireless data service for iPad users in the US, available to any customer regardless of their existing operator for a flat daily rate of $3.

The company claimed to be the first major US wireless provider to offer on-demand connectivity for iPad users on a pay-as-you-go basis. The service is for models with mobile and Wi-Fi connectivity capabilities, with the 24-hour data window beginning shortly after purchase.

AT&T explained it is targeting consumers who do not activate mobile connectivity on compatible iPads, pitching the benefit of short-term network access for periods where users are not in Wi-Fi range.

It highlighted ease of use, stating the service is activated in device settings without the need for a dedicated app.

The first day pass is complimentary, with subsequent purchases charged to a credit or debit card.

Josh Goodell, VP of consumer product management, said the goal is to make connectivity simple across the devices people use most.

The operator positioned the launch as part of a broader effort to simplify connectivity and provide flexible options without long-term commitments.

Model compatibility ranges from seventh-generation iPads to the latest Pro and Air models with M3 chips.

AT&T ultimately plans to expand the service to other 5G-enabled devices including Android tablets, smartwatches, laptops and drones.

Multi-day options are also planned.

AT&T noted data rates may be temporarily reduced during periods of network congestion.

The post AT&T launches $3 daily iPad data pass appeared first on Mobile World Live.

AT&T is launching $3 ‘unlimited’ day passes for iPads

10 June 2026 at 15:00
A photo of the M5 iPad Pro.
AT&T’s new day passes let you get your iPad online for 24 hours at a time, when you need it. | Photo: David Pierce / The Verge

AT&T has introduced a new "Unlimited Day Pass" cellular data offer for iPad users who need brief connectivity instead of signing up for a long-term plan. The day pass is available for $3 in the US starting today, providing 24 hours of unlimited data, with no contracts, subscriptions, or credit checks required.

This offer is available to anyone, including non-AT&T customers, with the 24-hour data activation beginning shortly after purchase. The first day pass is free as part of an introductory deal. There are no caps on speed or data mentioned in AT&T's announcement, but the company says it may "temporarily slow data speeds if the network is …

Read the full story at The Verge.

AT&T scales cloud RAN as open RAN swap passes 50%

8 June 2026 at 14:51

Interview: AT&T completed a controlled introduction phase of its cloud RAN deployment, with roughly 25 sites running live traffic on Intel’s Sapphire Rapids processors as it plans to aggressively scale deployment when Intel’s next-generation Granite platform arrives over the coming months.

The Sapphire deployment is currently handling the TDD layers of the network, which represent the largest share of traffic, but not yet the full stack.

Rob Soni (pictured), VP of the operator’s RAN architecture, told Mobile World Live (MWL) Granite, which is already in AT&T’s labs, will enable a full stack covering FDD, TDD, NR and LTE from a single server design.

“This is all coming in phased pieces through the fall and early next year,” he said. “We plan to scale more aggressively on Granite than we did on Sapphire.”

He said AT&T expects to move from a few hundred Sapphire sites to thousands on Granite through 2026 and into 2028.

Performance on the Sapphire sites is matching traditional RAN on call drop rates and throughput, Soni said, and the team is beginning to utilise the platform’s promise of faster feature delivery.

The leading example is AI-driven link adaptation, developed with Ericsson, which replaces rules-based scheduling algorithms with a deep neural network.

Trials are showing roughly 10% gains in spectrum efficiency and 15% improvements in individual user throughput, with further benefits expected as AT&T tunes the global Ericsson model to its own network morphology.

“We’ve done a lot of trailing with the kind of global model of Ericsson,” Soni explained. “We’re now in the process of tuning the model to the AT&T morphology, the AT&T usage. That will change the nature, and we expect there to be more gain.”

Halfway point

In cellular networks, Soni stated a base station must determine on every transmission frame which users to serve, what modulation and coding scheme to use and how to balance competing demands across the spectrum.

It is a computationally intense optimisation problem, and the traditional approach has been to encode engineering judgment into static rule sets. The AI model Ericsson developed learns from network behaviour and adapts more fluidly to changing conditions.

Link adaptation is a critical algorithm for determining the overall multiple user performance in a cellular network,” he stated.

Rival T-Mobile US stated in May 2026 it is also trialling Ericsson’s AI-native scheduler with link adaptation on live 5G-Advanced traffic, but Soni noted AT&T has been trialling it since December 2025.

Soni told MWL AT&T is just past the halfway point for switching out Nokia’s RAN gear for Ericsson’s as part of a five year plan to transition 70% of its network traffic to run on open platforms by end of year.

The post AT&T scales cloud RAN as open RAN swap passes 50% appeared first on Mobile World Live.

AT&T, Rivian extend 5G partnership to next-generation vehicle

3 June 2026 at 17:00

AT&T deepened its partnership with EV maker Rivian, confirming its 5G network will power connectivity inside its R2 model, which is slated for availability from 9 June.

The collaboration builds on a relationship dating to 2023, when AT&T became the connectivity provider for Rivian vehicles across the US and Canada.

With the R2 coming to market, the arrangement expands to cover the automaker’s next-generation platform, ensuring its more affordable mass-market model arrives with the same always-on network backbone as its predecessors.

The operator stated its 5G infrastructure will support faster over-the-air software updates, richer infotainment and real-time services which enable the R2 to improve performance and personalisation over time.

“Connectivity is increasingly central to how vehicles are designed, delivered, and improved,” stated Matt Harden, VP of connected solutions at AT&T.

At an automaker technology conference in the US state of Michigan, AT&T also revealed an expansion of its connected car platform in collaboration with Cisco and LiveOne, the parent of Slacker Radio.

The three-way arrangement is designed to simplify how automakers integrate premium entertainment into connected vehicles. AT&T’s wireless network provides the backbone, Cisco contributes multi-party billing infrastructure through its SIM management platform, and LiveOne will be supplying personalised audio content ranging from curated playlists to live programming.

Rather than requiring each automaker to negotiate separate connectivity deals with individual content providers, AT&T noted its platform acts as a single integration layer.

LiveOne joins existing AT&T partners including iM Media Labs and SiriusXM as part of a content ecosystem now reaching more than 60 of the world’s top automotive brands.

The post AT&T, Rivian extend 5G partnership to next-generation vehicle appeared first on Mobile World Live.

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