A forward-looking snapshot from Enea of the developments, tensions, and applied sciences set to form the 12 months forward
As telecom heads into 2026, a number of themes are converging: satellite tv for pc connectivity transferring into the mainstream, AI shifting from customer-facing instruments into core community operations, regulators flexing their muscle mass, and messaging economics hitting vital inflection factors. Under, Enea provides a forward-looking snapshot of the developments, tensions, and applied sciences set to form the 12 months forward.
LEO roars?
In 2026, we are going to see Satellite tv for pc connectivity going extra mainstream; the variety of competing teams making an attempt to meet up with Starlink’s first-mover benefit is rising, with notable tie-ups between Apple and Globalstar and Vodafone and AST SpaceMobile coming on-line to match T-Cellular’s T-Satellite tv for pc launch in mid-2025. Because the system (and eSIM) market evolves, extra folks will be capable to join simply.
It gained’t give the identical bandwidth wanted, however we are going to now see built-in knowledge plans with mobile (and Wi-Fi) protection providing extra common service. We’re on the early phases right here with 30+ providers in operation in the present day and already one other 30 scheduled for 2026 launch. Low earth orbit (LEO) satellite tv for pc growth is inherently linked with AI, primarily for operational effectivity but in addition now for cybersecurity (assault and protection), with extra questions on the sovereignty of information gathered on the house edge.
As satellite tv for pc goes mainstream and enters the collective consciousness of customers, we solely see this market increasing; the worth level for this extra service can even be attention-grabbing to look at. T-Cellular provides it as an add-on at $10 USD a month with particular purposes enabled; In New Zealand, One.Nz provides rural knowledge plans with satellite tv for pc for the equal of $28 USD per 30 days. Orange have lately introduced an SMS plan add-on at €5 a month (with Skylo) – and an information plan set to observe.
AI – Out of CRM and into telecom ops?
The fact of AI is with us – it has had a major enterprise impression in 2025. In telecom, there was a variety of give attention to automation and buyer relationship administration. In 2026, AI might be utilizing extra buyer and community knowledge with supervised studying to get extra operationally targeted — each in predictive and reactionary methods — to construct a greater, safer connectivity expertise. The potential objections on the grounds of GDPR and knowledge sovereignty should be answered for Telecom, in addition to the core ‘match for objective’ questions.
It takes time and expertise for operations groups to belief programs, however in 2026, we should always see this hole being closed for AI-based programs as groups become familiar with the truth of the know-how, the info wanted for AI to study and options the place it has essentially the most impression.
“I fought the legislation, however the legislation gained?”
The implementation of U.Ok. and EU telecom regulation started to chew in 2025, with US tech corporations discovered to be in breach of laws from each U.Ok. regulator Ofcom and the EU Digital Companies Act. The most recent concern was the proposed nice for X of $120 million for breaches of promoting guidelines. Mixed with the French regulator’s €150 million Euro nice for Apple in 2025 (additionally for promoting) and the current announcement that the EU is beginning an investigation into AI Search Engine responses with Google.
This may be interpreted in two methods — as the precise of the regulator to make and implement enterprise guidelines of their jurisdictions or, alternatively, as an assault on U.S. firms within the day by day enterprise by over-regulation.
The threatening escalation is in commerce, tariff disputes and open markets. 2026 will see how a lot enamel the regulator has, what their enforcement choices are, how they are going to race to meet up with AI and the challenges each in courts and politically between the US administration and the EU.
SMS pricing gone wild — AI to the rescue?
Is 2026 the 12 months when rising worldwide A2P SMS termination charges lastly hit again at operators? Many cell community operators have continued rising Worldwide Termination Charges (ITRs) in an effort to spice up A2P revenues. However past a sure threshold, costs gone wild have the alternative impact: they drive site visitors away.
By the top of 2025, common ITRs exceeded $0.14, a vital tipping level. Above this degree, SMS volumes decline sharply. In truth, site visitors already begins to fall as soon as costs rise above $0.10 per message. On common, each $0.01 improve past $0.10 leads to a 2.9% drop in site visitors, with the steepest declines occurring between $0.14 and $0.20.
Costs are anticipated to stay elevated in 2026 and should even proceed climbing. However 2026 can be prone to be the 12 months when community operators start testing smarter, value-based pricing fashions to counter income erosion. With AI-driven messaging intelligence now able to classifying site visitors into vital vs. non-critical classes, operators can align prices with precise message worth and invoice accordingly. The upside is substantial: good pricing can improve A2P SMS revenues by as much as 130%.
Within the meantime, because the market waits for clever pricing fashions to realize traction, the broader messaging ecosystem will search for alternate options to maintain manufacturers engaged. Wealthy Communication Companies (RCS) for enterprise is one potential path—providing richer experiences that many manufacturers ought to start shifting price range towards.
RCS “glow-up,” accelerated by AI
We should always anticipate Wealthy Communications Companies (RCS) for enterprise to enter a stronger development part in 2026, pushed by broader operator adoption, maturing requirements, and Apple’s gradual rollout of RCS on iOS. Collectively, these elements considerably broaden attain and improve confidence amongst manufacturers. As famous by Mobilesquared, the FIFA World Cup 2026 can be prone to function a serious catalyst. The ‘glow-up’ supplied by the extra options RCS supplies might be accelerated by such occasions, showcasing the worth of RCS on a world scale.
As RCS adoption rises, we’ll see an explosion of wealthy media in enterprise messaging, a lot of it created or optimized utilizing AI. AI can even energy the design of conversational flows and allow hyper-personalized buyer experiences by leveraging behavioral and contextual knowledge.
However spammers all the time observe customers. As site visitors shifts towards RCS, we are able to anticipate AI-generated spam and smishing campaigns to develop, with content material that’s more and more plausible, customized, and coercive. This can make strong RCS safety and superior menace detection extra vital than ever.
CEO — Canary within the coal mine for knowledge breach and cyber well being
South Korea has lengthy been held because the Canary within the coal mine for the world financial system resulting from its high-tech manufacturing base and export pushed industries.
However may it additionally now be the identical for knowledge breaches and cyberattacks? In 2025, three Korean CEOs have accepted accountability resulting from giant knowledge breaches, representing an unacceptably giant lack of knowledge and an existential menace to their enterprise (CEO of Korea Telecom [KT], the CEO of South Korea Telecom [SKT], and CEO of E-Commerce large Coupang). Every CEO taking final accountability for the lack of knowledge and belief. The destiny of telecom large LG Uplus’ CEO stays unsure after they had been victims of a current cyberattack.
In Europe, with the arrival of NIS-2 into laws (Community and Info Safety Directive 2) we’re seeing that distributors discovered accountable for cybersecurity-related outages may be held accountable for damages not directly incurred by organizations utilizing their software program, if acceptable checks and safeguards are discovered to be missing. .
We don’t anticipate that the frequency of cybersecurity incidents will lower in 2026, however with the potential monetary ramifications turning into clear in class-action lawsuits, shareholder activism, and NIS-2 laws being enacted, we do anticipate that for extra CEOs, within the phrases of US President Harry Truman, “The buck stops right here.” It’s greater than responsibility and honor — it’s about organizational cyber well being in 2026.