This article was originally published by SDxCentral on 27 February 2026. View the article here.

Marc Rohleder, CTO, US, Boldyn Networks

Marc Rohleder serves as the CTO for Boldyn Networks’ U.S. business. He is responsible for the company’s technology strategy and development of its technology roadmap, which includes mobile private networks, neutral host networks, and Wi-Fi networks.

Rohleder has more than 30 years of experience in the wireless industry, spanning diverse technical areas, including private wireless networks, in-building design, information security, fixed-wireless networks, MVNO operations, MNO roaming, enterprise product development, and solution sales.

Let’s explore five key trends set to shape the connectivity landscape over the year ahead

As digital infrastructure becomes more central to how cities, industries, and public places operate, 2026 will be a year of convergence rather than disruption. Across Europe and the U.S., networks will continue to evolve, becoming more shared, more service-led, and more integrated across technologies.

Let’s explore five key trends set to shape the connectivity landscape over the year ahead.

Private 5G adoption continues – “as-a-service” grows in popularity

By 2026, the private 5G market will have firmly shifted from proof-of-concepts (PoCs) to production. The big stories will move beyond lab demos or government pilots, to live, mission-critical networks in ports, airports, rail depots, mines, refineries, and hospitals running day-to-day operations.

Industrialization will be the main catalyst. Operators, neutral hosts, and enterprises will increasingly use private 5G to connect autonomous vehicles, cranes, robots, sensors, and critical worker communications in harsh or hard-to-reach environments where Wi-Fi and public macro networks fall short. Driven by this industrialization, we’re likely to see private network services becoming more bespoke and verticalized to meet differing needs across industries, and moving away from a “one-size-fits-all” approach.

To reach the wider mid-market, private 5G-as-a-service offerings could take a stronger foothold in the market. Blueprinted designs, managed cores, and cloud-hosted control will lower the barrier to entry for manufacturers, logistics hubs, and medium-sized campuses that don’t want to “own the boxes” – they just want outcomes. And as the U.S. market shows with Consumer Broadband Radio Services (CBRS) spectrum-led deployments, service-led models are often the most practical way to scale private networks beyond early projects.

Shared infrastructure and RAN sharing become the ideal solution for public spaces

By 2026, shared infrastructure will slowly but surely become the default model for public areas with space constraints particularly in Europe. Cities, transport authorities, and venue owners will begin to expect one neutral platform that can host multiple mobile network operators (MNOs), private slices, and enterprise use cases – from stadiums and arenas to metros, airports, and major stations.

Radio access network (RAN) sharing and neutral-host 5G will be baked into new tenders for metros, rail corridors, and civic districts because it’s the only way to tick all the boxes at once: coverage, capacity, cost efficiency, and sustainability. Instead of multiple parallel networks in the same street furniture or tunnel, we’ll see one shared layer serving public networks, private enterprise use, public safety, and IoT.

Analysts such as CCS Insight are already flagging a direction of travel, where, by 2029, a European government mandates cellular connectivity supplied by a neutral host in all major public areas.

In the U.S., while shared infrastructure is not new, similar pressures continue to shape deployments in large venues and transit hubs – particularly where multi-operator coverage is essential and venue-funded, shared RAN models make commercial and operational sense.

AI shifts from back-office optimization to live customer experiences

By 2026, AI in networks will move beyond performance tuning. Yes, it will still help to design, deploy, and operate private and public networks faster and cheaper. But the big differentiator will be how AI shapes the enterprise customer experience.

With private 5G and Wi-Fi 7 unlocking far richer sensor data and higher-density connectivity, AI will power:

• Real-time worker safety applications (lone-worker, location, push-to-talk over private 5G)
• Predictive maintenance in ports, rail depots, factories, and mines
• Smart hospital workflows, augmented reality (AR)-assisted surgery and context-aware clinical comms
• Hyper-personal fan and passenger experiences in venues and transport hubs – from crowd management to in-seat services and tailored content

For service providers and neutral hosts, AI-driven portals and automation will also change the service relationship. Customers will expect transparent, near-real-time insight into their network and the ability to tweak policies, experiences, and service level agreements (SLAs) on the fly, not just read static monthly reports.

U.S. spectrum policy takes hold, and appetite for sharing ramps up

2026 is likely to be a year of intense discussion and planning around spectrum in the U.S., rather than immediate large-scale change. While pressure remains to identify additional spectrum, the debate will continue between MNOs, the Department of Defense (DoD), and enterprises who depend on the CBRS band.

For neutral hosts and private networks, the opportunity lies less in any single new spectrum auction and more in a layered spectrum approach. In the U.S., this means combining access to low-band spectrum for coverage-critical use cases, mid-band spectrum for capacity, and emerging options such as millimeter wave (mmWave), including the lower 37 GHz band expected to become available from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2026.

In Europe, spectrum policy is taking a different path, with the 6 GHz band split between licensed and unlicensed use, supporting both neutral-host deployments and next-generation Wi-Fi. For operators working across both regions, flexibility will be key, such as designing networks that can adapt to different regulatory models while supporting similar services and outcomes.

LEO satellites plug (more) connectivity gaps

Next year low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite deployments will continue to provide a key strategy in operators' heterogeneous network ambitions, helping further eliminate connectivity not-spots with satellite direct-to-device (D2D) connectivity becoming an alternative to serve people where the terrestrial network does not reach.

As a result, we’ll hear more about partnerships between satellite companies and MNOs not only to serve the end user better but to share the MNO-owned spectrum, from North America to Japan, South Arabia, and Europe. In parallel, a few satellite companies are starting to make available new mid-band terrestrial spectrum, independent from carriers. We’ll see more licensed spectrum for use in limited countries for sure.

In the U.S., where large parts of the country still lack access to reliable fixed connectivity, LEO constellations will continue to bridge coverage gaps for farms, small businesses, and emergency response teams. Globally, LEO constellations will increasingly support private 5G and Wi-Fi backhaul for ports, logistics corridors, and rural industry.

Fundamentally, satellite will become an everyday part of the connectivity mix.

Conclusion: 2026 will see a converged connectivity fabric

By 2026, leading enterprises and cities will stop thinking in terms of single-technology bets and start designing a converged connectivity fabric.

Customers won’t ask for one technology; they’ll ask for one outcome: a seamless, secure experience as users and machines move between buildings, yards, tunnels, campuses, and remote sites.