MWC 2026 in Barcelona made one thing clear: the 5G hype has finally cooled, and the industry is sprinting toward what’s next. While I was on the ground navigating the chaos of the Fira, my partner Octavio was tracking the global signals from the digital sidelines. Between my sore feet and his high-level view, we’ve synthesized the ultimate view of the “IQ Era.” The most striking shift came during Keynote 2, “Transforming Tomorrow’s Connected World.” It confirmed that 5G has faded into a background utility, while satellite connectivity has officially taken center stage as the new frontier for universal reach. With the “G” cycles losing their luster, the telco industry is aggressively hunting for value in the other dominant themes consistent across the ecosystem: AI becoming embedded in network operations, the early groundwork for 6G, and a new wave of AI-powered devices and form factors. Importantly, much of the focus was less about experimentation and more about pushing AI, automation, and cloud-native architectures into real, production-scale deployments to find the growth that traditional cellular connectivity no longer provides.. 

  • Telecoms want to profit from AI. Telecom vendors and operators showed concrete progress embedding AI directly into live networks, spanning AI‑RAN, core operations, and network automation. Nokia, Ericsson, Samsung, Qualcomm, and Nvidia demonstrated AI driving traffic optimization, spectrum efficiency, energy usage, and fault remediation in near real time. The narrative has shifted from “AI‑assisted” tools to AI as the network’s operating system, enabling autonomous, self‑optimizing infrastructure and future 6G architectures — what Forrester calls “AI for telco.” Sessions like “Sovereignty as Strategy: Building Trusted Ecosystems for the AI Era” highlighted why this shift matters: operators want AI embedded at the infrastructure layer to retain control over data, models, and execution. This positions telecoms to move beyond the “dumb pipe” and reclaim value from over‑the‑top players by offering trusted AI infrastructure services, such as GPU‑as‑a‑service—what Forrester refers to as “AI by telco.” 
  • Device manufacturers want AI profits to remain in their domain. On the device side, MWC 2026 showcased a wave of AI‑centric hardware, including advanced foldables, AI‑powered cameras, robotic phone concepts, and new gaming and productivity form factors. Vendors such as Xiaomi, Honor, Lenovo, and Motorola emphasized on‑device AI, new silicon capabilities, and differentiated designs over incremental spec upgrades. As Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon put it, “We are transitioning from a connected ecosystem to an intelligent ecosystem. When your watch can run a 2‑billion parameter model locally and your phone processes your entire history without a cloud round‑trip, the network becomes a secondary tether rather than a primary life‑support system.” These announcements reinforce a shift toward devices designed around AI workloads, not just connectivity, and highlight why device vendors are pushing on‑device intelligence to reduce reliance on the network—and by extension, the carrier. Forrester’s view hasn’t changed: while edge intelligence at the device will dramatically reshape user experiences, it won’t, in most use cases, fully displace the need for network‑based intelligence and infrastructure. 
  • 6G pops up and highlights mistakes. MWC 2026 highlighted a growing gap between 5G’s original promises and what has been delivered in practice. The industry’s push to frame 5G Advanced as a stepping stone to 6G — through sensing, AI optimization, and distributed compute — implicitly acknowledges that many 5G use cases remain under-realized, complex to deploy, or difficult to monetize. By shifting the narrative forward too quickly, operators and vendors risk undermining confidence in the current generation. For enterprises, this raises a red flag: if the 5G story is still unfinished, investment decisions are more likely to be delayed until clearer proof points and stable returns emerge. Forrester expects the first basic 6G networks to deploy in 2030, reaching an underdelivered state by 2035 and catching up to initial promises by 2038. 

Bottom Line For Enterprises 

MWC 2026 signals a dependence on AI to make carriers relevant. The mobile industry is repositioning itself around AI and future generations before fully earning enterprise trust in 5G. For enterprise buyers, the smart move is measured adoption: 

  • Networks are getting smarter — but not necessarily simpler. Carriers are trying to insert AI into infrastructure which means most of that intelligence sits inside the carrier. They will struggle to open up capabilities to enterprises so they can easily “buy” or control. That likely means more bundled offers (connectivity + edge + “AI network” features) and stronger incentives to adopt an operator’s preferred ecosystem.  Enterprises should expect incremental gains (fewer issues, better consistency) rather than a sudden leap in new features. Enterprises should push for transparent pricing, portability, and clear exit paths so they don’t get stuck in a closed stack. 
  • Devices and SASE solutions can reduce network dependence. On‑device AI is accelerating, which means more work can be done locally on the handset/tablet without round‑tripping to the cloud or the carrier network. In addition, SASE vendors have put more controls in their PoP sites and backbone to optimize traffic and services. For enterprises, that can improve responsiveness and privacy, especially for frontline and field use cases. It also changes the calculus: in some scenarios, the device upgrade may matter more than paying a premium for “advanced” network features. 
  • 6G talk creates uncertainty — and can slow enterprise investment. The industry’s early pivot to 6G messaging highlights that many 5G enterprise promises still aren’t consistently delivered or easy to monetize. For enterprise buyers, that raises skepticism: if the 5G playbook is still unsettled, why bet big on the next one? The most likely outcome is delayed or phased investment until there are clearer proof points and predictable ROI. 

 

Want to talk through the event or these findings? Schedule an inquiry or guidance session with myself or Octavio.