Predictions for 5G SA, AI as a Service, and more as we head towards 2026 — from Spirent’s Head of Market Strategy
The rate of technological advancement is faster than any given organization’s ability to keep up, making it ever more difficult to separate what’s happening from what’s around the corner. Innovations and standards are emerging every day, and Spirent is watching from the front row. With Spirent’s leadership position in the realm of global network testing and assurance, from 5G to AI-powered networking, cloud infrastructure, satellite communication, and beyond, we can see how the future of innovation is coming together well before it hits the masses.
Looking ahead to 2026, we can expect the pace to quicken in the realms of mobile connectivity, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and vertical digital transformation. Based on Spirent’s experiences from hundreds of actual engagements worldwide, we’ve isolated a number of significant trends that will shape and reshape the possibilities for 2026.
5G Standalone becomes the default to power the next wave of monetized services.
Operators are constantly on the lookout for new service capabilities and monetization opportunities, and 2026 promises to bring plenty of both. As the year unfolds, we predict that most Tier 1 operators will have transitioned to standalone (SA) 5G cores and begun planning or implementing 5G-Advanced (5G-A) capabilities. The 5G SA architecture features a cloud-native core that empowers operators to support intelligent service delivery, deeper automation, and edge offload capabilities.
With 3GPP Release 18 now frozen, we’re already seeing what’s possible for 5G-A service offerings. Release 18 makes 5G networks more programmable and responsive, with updates for energy efficiency, positioning, and extended reality (XR) use cases. These improvements will help operators better align their services to customer demands for industrial automation, immersive communications, mission critical services, large scale IoT deployments, and aerial and non-terrestrial communications. As operators fully embrace 5G SA, they will unlock access to the advanced capabilities they need to drive value and differentiation.
AI as a Service will bring differentiated services to new spaces.
With AI adoption soaring across every industry, telecom operators are looking to do more than simply act as a pipeline through to hyperscalers. To avoid leaving money on the table, they are exploring how they can host AI infrastructure themselves within their networks, especially at network edge locations. We’ll be seeing a growing array of operators offering differentiated, profitable AI as a Service for specific use cases.
The initial offerings will support specialized use cases such as sovereign AI along with services for mission-critical industries and small and midsized enterprises. Operators are moving fast to optimize their networks with new capabilities to support GPU as a Service, edge inferencing, network optimization and security, including predictive network assurance, operational resilience, and other AI monetization opportunities.
China and advanced Asia vie for the 6G lead with pre-standards trials and pilots.
It seems like only yesterday that 5G made its debut, transforming mobile connectivity and opening the door to software-driven, cloud native network services. But now we’re more than halfway through its planned 10-year release cycle, and as 5G matures, eyes are already on 6G innovation.
China and advanced Asian countries are already working to establish early leadership in the technology, shaping standards and strengthening their global influence. In 2026, their focus will be on multi-band integration. Vendors are at work on 6GHz “Golden Bands” that balance coverage and capacity, as well as sub-THz bands that are capable of extremely high data rates and ultra-low latencies. The 6G wave will be about more than sheer speed and performance. Industry innovators are also reimaging how data is transmitted, Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC), wireless AI and edge computing, Quantum Secure Communications, and Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS).
AI data center interconnect fabrics move to Ethernet, providing new paths for scalability.
The explosive growth in data centers to support the AI revolution has generally been based on proprietary technology, led by NVIDIA. But some fresh options have started to emerge. New AI-optimized Ethernet fabrics like RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE v2) will increasingly become the backbone of large-scale clusters, reducing bottlenecks in trillion parameter model training. We’ll also see more organizations exploring Ultra Ethernet Consortium standards to transform Ethernet capabilities for AI at scale.
As new versions of Ethernet become viable alternatives, the entire AI ecosystem will be able to scale more cost-effectively. We’re already seeing major data center providers embracing a more standards-based direction. In fact, even NVIDIA is evolving its own proprietary technology with an Ethernet variant now as well.
Business continuity evolves to near real-time for stronger, automated resilience.
Business continuity has been table stakes for most enterprises for many years now. But as threats and regulations evolve, complexity grows, and the consequences of risk rise, it’s clear that many organizations will have to step their game up. In 2026, enterprises will evolve from static disaster recovery plans to automated resilience orchestration systems. These systems will continuously simulate crises and test resilience plans, efficacy, and regulatory compliance.
Over the past 18 months, major outages and breaches have been all over the headlines. Sensitive industries like energy and finance have realized that simplistic, abstract DR plans weren’t fit for purpose. New compliance requirements are compounding the pressure. A new generation of operational resilience solution will offer a more proactive, holistic approach to business continuity. Expect to see increased automation, continuous resilience testing, and AI to accelerate recovery if an issue arises.
Business continuity moves towards near real time for greater, more automated resilience.
The traditional methods for ensuring continuity in business operations are no longer suited for the interconnected world that is always on. With the growth in digital ecosystems and a more stringent regulatory regime, companies can’t continue using traditional disaster recovery plans that were updated once, or at most, twice annually. The year 2026 will witness a major shift towards autonomous resilience orchestration.
Rather, these new systems will not only provide information on what to do when something goes wrong, it will also model, analyze, and adjust in almost real time. The system will enable modeling tests for possible disruptions, and it will also allow tests for how effective responses will be for different networks, workload patterns, and regions.
The past 18 months have proven the relevance of both. The recent series of major outages and breaches has made it clear that outdated recovery strategies will continue to jeopardize critical sectors like energy, financial services, and health services. This shift has led enterprises to start embracing AI-powered orchestration platforms that actively seek vulnerabilities, perform failovers, and expedite the recovery process. The future will, therefore, bear witness to a new paradigm that will always ‘be on,’ ‘self-correct,’ and ‘make BCA.’
