Jan 20, 2026 2026 Predictions: How Wireless Experts See In-Building Connectivity Evolving In-building wireless is continuing to evolve in step with how commercial buildings are used, valued, and operated. Across commercial offices, healthcare, multifamily, hospitality, and mixed-use environments, connectivity is no longer something carriers consistently fund or something owners can afford to treat as secondary. As performance expectations rise and investment decisions become more ROI-driven, building owners and operators are taking a more active role in shaping the indoor cellular experience. Wireless industry experts shared their perspectives on how these shifts are influencing in-building connectivity strategies and what they signal for the year ahead. Iain Gillott Vice President, Innovation & Technology, WIA The most significant development in 2025: For the past few years, the wireless industry as a whole has been lamenting the fact there was no new spectrum available and that the FCC did not have spectrum authority. Spectrum is the lifeblood of the wireless infrastructure industry — new spectrum usually means new network equipment to deploy. Both of these issues were addressed in 2025, although in separate events. The FCC was granted its spectrum auction authority in the OBBBA, so that when new spectrum bands are identified and approved, the FCC can move forward with auctions. The second major event came in late August with the announcement that AT&T was buying $23 billion worth of lower- and mid-band spectrum from Echostar — this transaction puts spectrum to work relatively quickly. And then in September, Echostar and SpaceX announced a $19 billion deal for SpaceX to acquire Echostar’s AWS-4, H-block and AWS-3 licenses — this will eventually be used by Starlink to provide Direct-to-Cell service. These deals free up spectrum that was previously not being optimized. The AT&T deal especially will put more spectrum to work — that is what the industry wants and needs. Spectrum that sits on the sidelines and remains dormant does not help the infrastructure industry or the consumer or business user. The biggest trend impacting the industry in 2026: For 2026, I am going to go with the most obvious trend, the one the majority of people will be discussing (if they are not already): Artificial Intelligence. Rather than the usual debate about the good and bad associated with use of AI or the overall impact on society, I think 2026 will see more definition around where AI can really be effective and where it cannot. In other words, we will see the AI hype separated from the AI reality. For wireless infrastructure, I think we will see the biggest impact in two areas: digital twins and data collection; and edge computing. For digital twins, the focus is on the collection of quality data about a specific tower or wireless installation — this includes drone footage, high-definition images, technical specifications of deployed infrastructure, the physical condition and limitations of the tower, etc. For AI to be effective in the analysis of a specific tower and RAN deployment, the data used for the analysis must be accurate, definitive, and detailed. To paraphrase, good data in results in good data out. I believe that 2026 will see advancements in this area and commercial examples of the true benefits of AI. Edge compute has been discussed for many years in various capacities. For AI, the big debate in 2026 will be the split in work load between the device, the edge and the cloud — where will the heavy lifting actually take place? This debate has started but will become more pronounced in 2026 and that will result in more definition as to where the edge is, what the edge will process and how it will be architected. For the wireless infrastructure industry, this will be key as the industry starts to understand exactly where the edge compute will be located and what it will look like. Joshua BroderCEO, Verta Wireless In-building economics will continue to shift. Carriers are increasingly reluctant to fund in-building systems, placing greater responsibility on building owners to treat connectivity as an amenity, while carriers focus on serving buildings from outdoor networks where possible. Suzanne Corbo VP Marketing and Partner Engagement, Nextivity Inc. The biggest trend impacting the industry in 2026: We are starting to see companies measuring/calculating the ROI for in-building connectivity and think this trend will continue. WiredScore’s October Newsletter contains this blurb: Cushman and Wakefield’s Smart Premium report shows a 4.1% rental uplift for WiredScore-certified offices, rising to 7.3% with SmartScore. The WiredScore is an indicator of connectivity, while the other also includes Smart Building controls. This one statistic is evidence of tenants willing to pay a premium to be in a smart, connected building; property managers calculating the value of connectivity — moving it out of the “nice to have category” into a business driver; and the value of connectivity being established, indicating a 5% – 10% premium is possible. Brian Ensign Vice President Sales, Americas, Nextivity Inc. WIA Innovation & Technology Council member The biggest trend impacting the industry in 2026: For 2026 (and beyond), the demand for private 5G will continue to grow and gain traction for a more comprehensive connectivity strategy for the deployment of Industry 4.0 and Smart Buildings IoT applications. Laura HalpennyCEO, Autobahn Towers LLC The biggest trend impacting the industry in 2026: In 2026, the wireless infrastructure landscape will reward WOSB infrastructure firms that position themselves as trusted operators of location-based, performance-driven networks rather than traditional site developers. While there will still be macro-tower development in rural areas, the market is shifting away from macro-tower expansion toward neutral-host, fiber-adjacent small-cell platforms embedded in municipal rights-of-way, transit corridors, campuses, and mixed-use developments — areas where procurement requirements, compliance, and local trust matter most. WOSB firms are uniquely advantaged in this environment, as municipalities, carriers, and infrastructure investors increasingly prioritize certified partners who can deliver speed, entitlement certainty, and shared-use infrastructure. Ultimately, WOSB developers that control the right locations and relationships — while monetizing performance, not just rent — will capture outsized value in the next phase of wireless infrastructure growth. Dan Lakey Chief Revenue Officer, Fortress Solutions The most significant development in 2025: The most significant 2025 development was the shift from exploratory private 5G pilots to early-stage production deployments across industrial environments. Throughout 2025, organizations began realizing that Wi-Fi alone could not support the mobility, reliability, and segmentation required by emerging workloads such as AGVs, AMRs, drones, and real-time video analytics. As automation and AI systems expanded in warehouses, factories, utilities, and logistics networks, enterprises began choosing private 5G for deterministic mobility that eliminates Wi-Fi’s roaming gaps, consistent low-latency performance for mission-critical robotics, stronger, SIM-based security and segmentation, and better control over traffic flows and application behavior This transition marked the industry’s first widespread acknowledgment that private 5G is not experimental — it is operationally necessary for industrial digitalization. In short, 2025 was the year private 5G became the required foundation for next-generation mobility and automation, setting the stage for the more advanced architectural trends arriving in 2026. The biggest trend impacting the industry in 2026: The most impactful trend in 2026 will be the rise of AI-driven mobility and automation … and the resulting shift to hybrid wireless architectures built around private 5G. As AGVs, AMRs, drones, and real-time computer vision systems become more common, enterprises need deterministic, low-latency, always-on connectivity that Wi-Fi alone can’t deliver. AI workloads now move through warehouses, yards, and production lines, making seamless roaming and predictable performance essential. This demand is accelerating adoption of private 5G for reliable mobility, micro-slicing to guarantee AI application performance, and hybrid architectures that combine Wi-Fi, private 5G, and DAS for uninterrupted coverage. In 2026, AI becomes the primary driver of wireless infrastructure modernization, pushing enterprises to deploy networks designed for automation, edge intelligence, and continuous mobility. Stephen Leotis President and Co-Founder, Moso Networks The most significant development in 2025: In 2025, we saw the dramatic simplification of private 5G architectures, making the technology truly accessible to enterprises and industrial customers. Historically, private 5G deployments required complex, on-premise servers, specialized expertise, and long deployment cycles, which limited adoption outside of larger, technically sophisticated organizations – or a strong SI to deliver the system. Moso and Ataya launched the Chorus P5G solution, which eliminates the need for on-premise servers and reduces deployment to a 5G radio and a secure cloud connection. This architectural shift allows private 5G networks to be deployed indoors and outdoors with the simplicity and speed of Wi-Fi, while delivering the performance, security, and reliability advantages of 5G. This simplification represents a critical inflection point for the industry because it lowers cost, reduces operational complexity, and removes key barriers to enterprise adoption — unlocking private 5G for a much broader range of use cases and customers. The biggest trend impacting the industry in 2026: In 2026, we will start to see the use of AI to automate and optimize wireless networks – I expect to start seeing this technology in private 5G as well with scale across enterprise and industrial environments where manual configuration and operations become impractical. AI will enable automated provisioning, proactive maintenance, and real-time network optimization, allowing private networks to adapt dynamically to changing conditions and mission-critical requirements. For enterprises, this translates to faster deployment, lower operational complexity, improved reliability, and the ability to support critical communications without specialized cellular expertise. At the same time, private 5G will serve as a key enabler for edge AI applications by providing the reliable, low-latency, high-bandwidth connectivity these workloads require. Jonathan Lester CTO, SVP – Product, Airwavz WIA Innovation & Technology Council member The most significant development in 2025: From an in-building wireless perspective, the most significant development in 2025 was the industry-wide normalization of a “carrier no” posture toward traditional, broadly funded in-building investments — particularly across everyday enterprise environments (often described as Tier 2 and Tier 3 venues such as commercial office, healthcare, multifamily, hospitality, and similar properties). This shift has been emerging for several years, but 2025 was the inflection point where all three major U.S. MNOs were consistently aligned: indoor projects increasingly required a building-owner-funded model, even when the need was driven by subscriber experience expectations. The underlying driver is capital prioritization and ROI scrutiny as carriers balance competitive churn pressure, macro-network investment demands, and tighter resource planning — conditions that tend to push venue-specific indoor budgets down the priority stack. The result is a structural reset in how indoor coverage is delivered, accelerating neutral-host and partner-led approaches and placing more accountability on property owners to treat cellular connectivity as core digital infrastructure. Airwavz has continued to support both the carrier and building owner communities through this transition, helping stakeholders align on practical architectures, deployment models, and commercial paths that reliably solve indoor connectivity. The biggest trend impacting the industry in 2026: In 2026, the most impactful trend will be the continued redefinition of “who pays” and “who owns” the in-building cellular experience and the supporting end-to-end stack — building on 2025’s momentum where MNOs increasingly required property owners to fund indoor solutions, and expanding beyond distributed infrastructure to include more of the RAN equipment (carrier radios) needed to deliver dedicated, reliable indoor signal. As 5G Standalone pushes further indoors and expectations for seamless performance rise, venue owners — particularly in Tier 2/3 environments where general coverage is the primary requirement — will face a step-change in both capital and ongoing operating commitments, even when capacity is not the binding constraint. In parallel, continued Open RAN progress in the macro network should begin to translate into more modular and interoperable options that improve indoor lifecycle economics and deployment flexibility, reinforcing the shift toward neutral-host and partner-led delivery models. Finally, fiber availability and lead times may emerge as a practical gating factor as data-center-driven demand increases pressure on cable manufacturing and on the route-miles needed to connect new campuses, influencing indoor project timing, architecture choices, and total delivered cost across the broader wireless infrastructure ecosystem. Michiel Lotter CEO, Nextivity Inc. The most significant development in 2025: In enterprise applications such as retail, we have finally seen the pendulum swing from trusting Wi-Fi to be the sole answer to connecting people and devices to one where cellular connectivity is taking its rightful role as a required connectivity option for shoppers and workers alike. After years of trying to focus on Wi-Fi, enterprises have now experienced that sometimes as little as 15% of shoppers or site visitors will connect to public Wi-Fi systems. This means that to offer a seamless multichannel experience to customers, enterprises must ensure that in-building cellular coverage is excellent. Furthermore, an increased focus on health and safety by all enterprise verticals has made the ability to call for help using a cellphone a must-have capability in any environment. The biggest trend impacting the industry in 2026: Demanding clear, broad-based ROI for any money spent on in-building wireless coverage. The need for in-building wireless is growing, but the business case must be much stronger. This is where combining the in-building cellular business case with a case focused on IoT sensor integration and Private 5G, both using the DAS infrastructure, will become pivotal. End users will demand a DAS that can do more than just provide cellular coverage – they will demand a DAS that will be part of the transformation of their business operations. Marc Rohleder Chief Technology Officer, Boldyn Networks The biggest trend impacting the industry in 2026: In 2026, the private 5G market will have firmly shifted from PoCs to full-scale production, focused on mission-critical deployments in ports, airports, rail yards, mining and hospitals, critical to daily operations. Private 5G will increasingly connect autonomous vehicles, cranes, robots, sensors, and mobile worker communications in challenging environments where other wireless solutions such as Wi-Fi and public networks can’t fully support. And as enterprise goes through its latest digital transformation to enable deeper AI insights, private network services will become more bespoke and verticalized to meet the unique needs across different industries, with “Private 5G as a Service” becoming a key enabler to reach a wider market. Additionally, shared infrastructure will remain the default and preferred solution for space-constrained, challenging environments. Cities, transit systems (including airports and rail systems), along with venue and stadium owners, will increasingly expect a single neutral host platform to support multiple MNOs and private networks. These verticals realize the value of in-building and underground wireless technology to their end users. RAN sharing, an emerging technology, will grow in 2026 to achieve coverage, cost efficiency, and sustainability goals. Julie Song President, Advanced RF Technologies, Inc. The most significant development in 2025: One of the most significant developments in the wireless infrastructure industry in 2025 was the growing convergence of policy, public safety requirements, and in-building wireless technology, particularly in schools and public spaces. School safety legislation, including the continued momentum behind Alyssa’s Law, made clear that reliable indoor connectivity is no longer optional, but foundational to emergency response and modern safety strategies. In 2025, schools increasingly moved toward unified in-building wireless networks that support both commercial and public safety communications, enabling interoperability across panic alerts, surveillance, and first responder systems. This shift elevated ERCES and converged infrastructure from compliance-driven deployments to strategic investments, marking 2025 as the year wireless infrastructure became a core pillar of school and public safety. The biggest trend impacting the industry in 2026: In 2026, the trend that will most significantly impact the wireless infrastructure industry will be the convergence of enterprise wireless growth with sustainability-driven network design, fueled by data center expansion and the accelerating adoption of private 5G. As data centers continue to proliferate to support AI, cloud, and edge computing, energy efficiency will move from a design consideration to a core deployment requirement. Wireless infrastructure, particularly in-building and campus environments, will be increasingly engineered to minimize power consumption, reduce heat, and integrate more tightly with energy-aware data center architectures, pushing vendors and enterprises alike to prioritize greener, more efficient solutions. At the same time, the rise of private 5G networks will fundamentally reshape enterprise connectivity strategies. Enterprises are no longer willing to rely solely on carrier-funded or best-effort models for mission-critical operations. Instead, we’ll see broader adoption of private 5G deployments using a mix of shared and licensed spectrum, including Part 20, to deliver deterministic performance, enhanced security, and greater operational control. This shift will further accelerate enterprise wireless investment across industries such as manufacturing, logistics, and healthcare, where connectivity is directly tied to productivity and safety. WIA Blog