Mobile Experts Inc. is sounding the alarm about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on 5G networks.
The context is that mobile networks currently traffic much more data on the downlink. However, Siri, Google Assistant and other AI-based platforms and services will drive what the report says is an “unprecedented” level of uplink traffic to mobile networks. It suggests that the release of Gen-AI enhancements that are said to soon arrive “could be a turning point.”
Mobile Experts say that to date AI platforms such as ChatGPT mostly have trafficked text and images. Processing could be done in the device. That will become impossible as AI becomes video-centric and mobile networks need to bring the data up to the cloud for processing.
“We now expect to see a shortfall in mobile capacity in the 2027 to 2028 timeframe,” said Mobile Experts Principal Analyst Joe Madden.
“The growth rate of mobile traffic has slowed down recently, but we’re anticipating that uplink data growth will accelerate starting in 2027. The network will be vulnerable to any ‘viral’ AR game or popular Gen-AI application in the 2028-2030 timeframe. By 2030, 6G capacity will be crucial to keep the network running.”
It is clear that AI will have an impact on both the volume and dynamics of mobile network traffic.
In addition to mobile networks, AI will also have a big impact on the access network. Mike O’Day, the chief technology officer for Corning Optical Communications, told Telecompetitor in late March that Corning already is sing a surge due to early AI adopters. His view is that AI adoption will drive access network traffic substantially.
In May, a global study conducted by Censuswide commissioned by vendor Ciena looked at AI’s impact on telecom. 43% of communications service providers surveyed favored private cloud deployments of AI, while 37% supported public cloud deployments and 21% backed a hybrid approach.
