TIP Broadens Scope Beyond Open RAN to Agentic AI, Data and 6G

Telecom Infra Project now covers far more than open RAN, with proposed working groups for data and AI and active discussions underway on Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) and 6G. TIP board chair Rob Soni, who is also AT&T's VP of RAN, delivered that message in a keynote at the organisation's FYUZ 2026 event in Seattle.

Soni told attendees that TIP was long viewed as an organisation solely focused on open RAN. Its portfolio of working groups today proves otherwise, he said, describing the body as "not nailed to an O-RAN-ish vision, not anymore."

The current focus areas span core, transport, open Wi-Fi and neutral host networks, alongside the open RAN work that built the group's reputation. Soni credited TIP with helping enable open Wi-Fi and open access over wireless networks through neutral host arrangements, and noted vendors have already moved ahead on open RAN deployment.

A new group dedicated to open transport has also been formed, marking the latest structural addition to the organisation's remit.

Why is agentic AI on TIP's agenda?

The push toward agentic AI comes from the top of the organisation's membership. Soni said investors, stakeholders and customers are all asking the same question: how can agentic AI be put to work? Board feedback to TIP has been consistent on this point.

"We cannot ignore this space," Soni said. TIP, he added, needs to be involved and work out how to act on the input coming from its members.

AT&T is doing its part from within. Soni said the operator is building its own agentic framework for networks and wants partners to join that effort.

The commercial picture around agentic AI remains unsettled, however. Companies are currently pitching it as a service or a turnkey product, and Soni expects the market to sort itself out in the same way network management did over time.

"Some will roll their own, some will build their own, some will depend heavily on partners and finally some will be turnkey delivered by somebody else," he said.

Can the $93 billion forecast be believed?

Soni expects the shift toward agentic AI to be large, creating demand for new services and widening the market for connectivity. One forecast puts the opportunity at $93 billion by 2032.

He does not take that figure at face value.

"I don't know if I believe these numbers. I think they're just numbers," Soni said, adding that he has heard figures ten times higher. The scepticism from the board chair of the industry's main infrastructure collaboration group sets a sober tone against the wave of vendor projections surrounding agentic AI in telecom.

For TIP's part, Soni defined a specific role: the organisation should provide the enablers and get members talking about blueprinting, certifying and developing the technologies at scale. A central requirement, he said, is keeping data layers open to everyone in a meaningful way.

What changes for operators?

Soni argued that every domain of the network is going through transformation simultaneously, from radio access to transport to core. That reality creates an opening for operators of any size, he said, because they can work together on shared requirements through TIP regardless of their scale.

The formation of a data and AI working group, if approved, would give smaller operators a seat at the table as agentic frameworks take shape. The same logic applies to the discussions on ISAC and 6G, which position TIP ahead of the next standards cycle rather than reacting to it.

With AT&T already building its own agentic framework and seeking partners, and with the new open transport group formed, TIP's expanded agenda is set to be tested by what its members deliver in the run-up to 6G standardisation.