“Wireless & AI: Driving the Future of Innovation,” a new report from the CTIA, makes the case that a unified national strategy is necessary to promote the growth of the technologies, which it calls the two largest sources of infrastructure investment in the American economy.
The report says that within the next two years, 75% of smartphones will be powered by AI. The convergence of AI and wireless is enabling performance of tasks in the real world. Robotics, drones, and intelligent machines using both technologies will have a presence with their human coworkers in places such as factories and hospitals, and in public safety scenarios.
Time is of the essence. The press release said that the U.S. had its biggest jump ever in wireless traffic in 2025 and that AI will account for 30% of all broadband traffic by 2034.
The good news, CTIA said, is that progress is being made. For instance, wireless networks have seen a 30% improvement in efficiency. Additional gains will be made by the advent of AI-native 6G networks.
The CTIA believes that a unified national strategy for AI and wireless would be important to fulfilling goals such as:
- Expediting the 800-megahertz spectrum pipeline established by Congress, including the Federal Communications Commission’s 2027 C-Band auction and progress on 2.7 GHz to address near-term demand.
- Prioritizing the 4 GHz and 6/7 GHz bands for licensed use. This will provide the large and contiguous spectrum blocks 6G requires.
- Replacing today’s state-by-state patchwork of permitting rules with nationwide standards to streamline AI and wireless infrastructure deployment.
- Pairing infrastructure policy with investment-friendly tax policy.
“AI and wireless are converging, and physical AI — where AI doesn’t just answer questions but takes action in the real world — is where everything changes,” CTIA president and CEO Ajit Pai said in the press release.
“To lead this next era, America needs larger, contiguous blocks of mid-band spectrum, more infrastructure, and a unified national approach. The countries that understand this convergence and act on it will lead the next generation of innovation.”
Though 6G may sound like it’s far in the future, it’s not. In March, representatives of The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) met with wireless and computer networking experts to gain a better understanding of how technology developers will apply AI to 6G wireless networks that now are under development.
