Ericsson Mobility Report: The 5G Network Slicing Era

Reporter: Sarthak Editor: Techotd Team June 18, 2026 78 views

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The June 2026 edition of the

Historically, cellular networks were built for "downlink"—users downloading movies, scrolling feeds, or pulling data from the cloud. However, the proliferation of multimodal AI agents and smart glasses has completely inverted traffic patterns.

Ericsson projects that by 2031, AI data traffic will push uplink volumes to be three times higher than they were in 2025.

SoftBank created five distinct slices on the same tower. One slice guaranteed ultra-low latency for Formula 1 payment systems and broadcasting cameras, while a separate "best effort" slice handled the smartphones of the thousands of fans in the grandstands.