In this episode of The Five Nine, host Diana Goovaerts explores what the future of the radio access network could look like as 5G matures, 6G takes shape and AI pushes telecom toward a new era of software-driven networks.

With insight from Ericsson North Americas CTO Joe Constantine, Mobile Experts founder and president Joe Madden and Samsung Electronics America’s Shamik Shah, this episode breaks down what AI-RAN really means, whether GPUs are actually needed in the mobile network, how 6G could become more of a software upgrade than a hardware refresh, and why Open RAN may be moving from industry hype to operational plumbing.

The conversation also tackles one of telecom’s biggest business questions: Can they escape the dumb pipe trap?