Ookla says US 5G may need upgrades for AI traffic

Ookla said US 5G networks may need an overhaul to support the uplink capacity and low-latency performance required by new AI services.

Ookla said US 5G networks may require upgrades to handle AI-related traffic patterns. The company’s research, as cited by Light Reading, focused on whether existing mobile infrastructure can support AI services that need low latency and higher uplink performance.

The reported issue is not general 5G availability but network characteristics tied to AI use cases. Ookla said new AI services may place greater importance on uplink capacity, which is the speed available for sending data from a device to the network, and on low latency, which is the delay before data begins to transfer.

Light Reading reported that Ookla’s findings point to a possible need for network overhaul in the United States. The source material provided does not specify which US operators were assessed, what test period was used, or what performance thresholds Ookla applied in its research.