It’s been another busy year for the telecommunications industry, where big deals have been carved out, infrastructure has been sold, and mobile carriers have continued to roll out next-generation technology.

Tower assets have been flogged by operators looking to raise funds for 5G and fiber, while satellite players have ramped up their commercial tie-up with telcos.

As expected, the hype around technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) has increased as the telecom sector analyses the potential that AI has to offer.

5G begins to Standalone

Mobile carriers across the world have ramped up their 5G strategies, with many telcos finally launching their 5G Standalone (5G SA) networks.

5G SA is not reliant on older mobile generations and solely uses a cloud-based 5G core network. When the technology was initially launched back in 2019, 5G was reliant on a 4G Core and was essentially non-standalone. Prior to 2024, only a handful of carriers had launched 5G SA.

But this year it all changed. In the UK, Virgin Media O2 and EE launched their 5G SA networks, joining Vodafone, which launched its service last year, albeit EE said it was only offering the service at an extra cost.

Other nations noted 5G SA launches including Vodafone Germany, Norway’s Ice, and Iliad’s Free in France.

As of the end of September, GSMA Intelligence reported that 57 operators had launched 5G SA networks, while 88 had announced plans to launch.

The emergence of 5G SA networks is welcome in the telecoms industry, but many believe it has come too late. “The industry is really trying to take the learning from the 5G NSA debacle, because it was not a good idea to do NSA,” Chris Antlitz, principal analyst at Technology Business Research, told DCD earlier this year.

“I was at an event recently and a lot of people were saying that NSA has done the industry a great disservice because it fails to live up to the promises of what 5G was supposed to be. It was a band-aid that didn’t give the industry what it needed.”

High costs have hit telcos hard

The investment needed to deploy the latest technology has continued to hit carriers hard in the pocket.

Several have announced restructuring plans, cutting jobs along the way to save costs.

Swedish carrier Telia reduced its headcount by 15 percent, while Vodafone has axed jobs across several of its markets, while in the US Verizon recently announced plans to cut 4,800 roles by next year, and Charter Communications said it would make 1,000 staff redundant.

Vendors such as Ericsson and Nokia have also slimmed down, while US tower operator also said it would reduce its overall headcount.

Restructuring across the industry is likely to continue in 2025, with the looming presence of AI threatening to make certain roles redundant.

Selling assets

Mobile carriers have continued to sell off some of their assets in order to fund the expensive 5G and fiber rollout.

This has often included towers, with Verizon’s $3.3 billion sale to Vertical Bridge, one of the biggest of 2024. The deal will see Vertical Bridge lease, operate, and manage more than 6,000 towers across America.

Verizon is not the only telco that has made such sales. Spark New Zealand completed the sale of its remaining 17 percent stake in its mobile unit Connexa to global investment group CDPQ for NZ$314 million ($181m).

Cellnex has also been busy in this area. The Spanish telco agreed in August to sell its Austrian business for €803m ($843m), and has also agreed to an Irish exit to Phoenix Tower International (PTI) for €971m ($1.06bn).

Similar trends have occurred in other markets too, including Asia and the Middle East, notably DigitalBridge’s acquisition of Japan’s JTower.

Interestingly, not all telcos have chosen to carve out their tower assets, with French giant Orange adamant that such assets are not for sale. The company confirmed to DCD earlier this year that this stance has not changed.

Open RAN struggles

Mobile carriers, vendors, and software companies have continued to deploy Open RAN networks and carry out trials of the technology in 2024.

Companies continue to invest in the technology, with EchoStar Corporation securing $5.2 billion in capital to invest in its nationwide Open RAN 5G network back in September.

A Counterpoint Research report in 2023 tipped network carriers to spend $30 billion by 2030.

However, the revenue from Open RAN hasn’t quite translated as hoped for carriers, at least according to Dell’Oro Group, which reported a decline of 30 percent in revenue for the first three quarters of this year.

The report blamed slowed 5G adoption and delays in readiness of the technology for the slump.

Looking further ahead, Dell’Oro said it expects Open RAN revenue to make up between eight to 10 percent of the overall RAN market in 2025.

Market consolidation

Some of the biggest headlines to come from the telecom sector this year have been around market consolidation, in particular in Europe.

In the UK, Vodafone’s long-awaited £15 billion ($19bn) merger with CK Hutchison’s Three has finally been approved, meaning the UK market will have three main operators, as opposed to four.

"Consumers and businesses will enjoy wider coverage, faster speeds, and better-quality connections across the UK, as we build the biggest and best network in our home market. Today’s approval releases the handbrake on the UK’s telecoms industry, and the increased investment will power the UK to the forefront of European telecommunications,” said Vodafone CEO Margherita Della Valle when approval was sealed.

Indeed, Vodafone has been very busy this year, as the UK telco aims to refocus its strategy under the leadership of Della Valle. The carrier completed its Spanish exit this year to UK investment firm Zegona, scooping €5bn ($5.4bn) along the way, and has just closed the sale of Italian unit to Swisscom for €8bn ($8.43bn).

Another big merger in Spain was that of Orange and MásMóvil, who created the intelligently named MásOrange (which translates to more Orange).

Other acquisitions have seen UAE-based carrier e&, formerly Etisalat, grow its European footprint. The telco closed its €2.15 billion ($2.33bn) deal to acquire 50 percent plus one share in PPF Telecom Group’s assets in Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia, and Slovakia.

In the US, T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T have all agreed deals to acquire assets from regional provider UScellular, which needs the funds to continue its 5G push.

The biggest of those deals is T-Mobile’s proposed $4.4bn agreement to acquire significant assets from UScellular. Both parties are confident that the deal will go ahead, although EchoStar’s Dish and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) have voiced their opposition to the acquisition. A decision on T-Mobile’s acquisition is expected from the Federal Communications Commission next year.

Pivot to fiber

In order to deliver on the use cases that the telecoms industry has promised, fiber is necessary, due to its ability to transmit data quickly.

As the phasing out of legacy copper networks continues to gather pace, telcos, and broadband providers have outlined their fiber ambitions to underpin their business growth plans.

In the UK, Openreach’s fiber rollout has now reached 15 million premises. The BT subsidiary is aiming to hit 25 million properties by the end of 2026.

However, it’s across the pond where the fiber battle has really heated up this year. All of the ‘Big Three’’ US carriers - AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile - have ramped up their fiber rollout plans this year, through joint ventures (JV) or full-on acquisitions.

T-Mobile has outlined plans to reach 15 million premises by the end of the decade. It follows previous deals earlier this year made by the carrier.

In July, T-Mobile announced plans to set up a JV with investment firm KKR to acquire fiber Internet service provider Metronet. As part of another JV, T-Mobile agreed to acquire Lumos Networks with EQT Infrastructure.

AT&T has continued its fiber push, with CEO John Stankey outlining plans to reach more than 50 million fiber locations by 2029. The company is currently at around 29 million passings, but has this year expanded its fiber JV with Gigapower, with investment company BlackRock.

But it’s Verizon which has carved out arguably the biggest deal in this space, after it agreed to acquire Frontier Communications in a deal worth as much as $20bn.

Despite objections from a number of Frontier shareholders including Glendon Capital Management, Cooper Investors Pty Limited, and Cerberus, shareholders agreed to approve the deal, which is set to help Verizon bolster its own fiber network offering. Verizon currently serves around nine million fiber customers, while Frontier has around 2.2 million.

Sats' your lot

The satellite operator space also generated a lot of headlines this year. In the US, SpaceX finally gained regulatory approval to provide satellite coverage direct to mobile devices through its Starlink service.

SpaceX has a partnership with T-Mobile, with the duo aiming to cover dead spots from space.

Elon Musk’s company was able to demonstrate its ability to operate the satellites this year, when SpaceX and T-Mobile were given temporary authority to use Starlink satellites to provide direct-to-cell coverage for cellphones in areas of North Carolina hard-hit by Hurricane Helene in October.

Meanwhile, T-Mobile’s rivals AT&T and Verizon penned mobile satellite partnerships of their own with AST SpaceMobile this year.

Beyond the US, Starlink grew its footprint into a host of other markets, while cellular carriers signed deals with other satellite operators, including Lynk, Satelliot, Intelsat, and many more.

6G and beyond

As 5G matures, the mobile industry is looking ahead to what comes next, and that is 6G.

Although it’s not expected to launch commercially until the end of the decade, vendors are already carrying out research and development on what 6G networks will look like.

The appetite for 6G is, unsurprisingly quite limited at present, with many still intent on getting the best out of 5G. Use cases touted by the vendors, such as autonomous vehicles, sound eerily similar to what was promised with 5G.

“Every 10 years or so, you buy a new car, and you’re not going to buy a smelly old diesel; you’ll go for an electric vehicle or something that has the latest technology. It’s the same with technology,” Petter Vetter, president of Nokia Bell Labs Core Research, told DCD earlier this year.

Expect more talk and plenty of hype about 6G in the next year and beyond.

Gen AI is coming

It wouldn’t be an end-of-year review in 2024 without mentioning AI, which has become a key theme dominating telecom industry events over the last two years.

The Global Telecom AI Alliance (GTAA) announced a JV to develop and launch a multi-lingual Large Language Model (LLM) for telcos.

Led by Deutsche Telekom, e& Group, Singtel, SoftBank Corp., and SK Telecom, the purpose of the project is to "help telcos improve their customer interactions via digital assists and other innovative AI solutions."

Telcos have outlined their view that generative AI will help carriers generate revenue in the future, but won’t happen overnight.

Watch out for China hacks, BEAD

With Donald Trump set to re-enter the White House in January, there is bound to be a knock-on effect for the telecoms sector.

During his last term, Trump imposed aggressive sanctions on Chinese vendor Huawei, damaging its business prospects in Western markets.

He’ll likely continue that trend when he takes office, as China was reportedly behind a severe hack against several US carriers in recent months. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Virginia) labeled the hacks, carried out by a group called Salt Typhoon, as the "worst telecom hack in our nation’s history."

Away from Trump’s China battle, attention will also need to turn to President Joe Biden’s $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program.

The program has been heavily scrutinized by the incoming Republican Party and in a letter to Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who are leading Trump’s new government efficiency body DOGE, Senator Joni K. Ernst said the plug should be pulled on the program.

BEAD has yet to be rolled out and hasn’t connected a single person to the Internet. With Trump and co looking to cut back on federal spending, the future of the program is far from guaranteed.