The content team at Channel Partners tracks stories of interest to the technology advisor and wider channel communities. Anyone selling communication and connectivity solutions will want to stay abreast of these developing stories or catch up on ones they have missed. All links are valid as of Sept. 9.

AI Deployments Grew Expensive in 2026

This list of stories from Informa TechTarget sites between February and August describe a year when enterprises stopped asking if AI works and began fretting about what it costs to keep it going. The bill arrived in dollars and megawatts, among other things. Read the Channel Dive story.

Activist Investor Wants Deutsche Telekom to Forget T-Mobile Merger

Activist investor Elliott Investment Management is reportedly urging Deutsche Telekom to focus on shareholder returns rather than pursuing a potential mega-merger with T-Mobile US. The pressure comes as DT evaluates how best to leverage its majority stake in the U.S. wireless operator while investors look for clearer paths to value creation. Read the Fierce Network story.

T-Mobile U.S. Begins CFO Transition

Long-time Shell and Enron financial executive Jessica Uhl is joining the telecom ranks in the latest T-Mobile executive overhaul under CEO Srini Gopalan. Uhl is set to replace long-standing T-Mobile U.S. CFO Peter Osvaldik in Feb. 2027. Uhl will become CFO Designate in mid-September and will work alongside Osvaldik through an “extended transition period.” Read the SDxCentral story.

Dell's Latest Reinvention Reveals the AI Boom Happening 'On Premises'

Four years ago, while others were playing with chatbots, treating AI as parlor games or sounding cataclysmic alarms over LLMs’ threats to society, Dell saw AI’s emerging utility as a new pillar of the economy and prepared his company accordingly, culminating in perhaps the 12th strategic reinvention of his enterprise strategy since he launched his business in 1984 as a 19-year-old in his college dorm room. Read the Fortune story.

Harmonic Puts Network AI on Revenue Radar

Amid its move to become a pure-play broadband tech company, Harmonic is placing a bigger bet on AI with a platform designed to boost broadband network performance and goose net promoter scores. Read the Light Reading story.

Proposed U.S. Ban on Chinese Optical Transceivers Threatens AI Data Center Buildouts

Two major networking equipment vendors told Fierce a U.S. government ban on Chinese-made optical transceivers could have a “severe” impact on the AI data center buildout in the U.S. Though silent in public, networking vendors in interviews with Fierce voiced a mixture of confusion and concern about recent reports that the White House and FCC want to shut Chinese vendors out of the domestic market. Read the Fierce Network story.

Experts Call Out OpenAI Defense Pledge, Astra Release Timing

OpenAI pledged $1B to cyber defenders the same day it released Astra -- its most powerful offensive model yet. Some experts warn that defense is getting left behind. Read the TechTarget story.

With Hugging Face Acquisition, Nvidia Scores Big Win in AI Race

While most attention has been on model makers such as Anthropic, OpenAI and Google regarding which vendor will win the race, the star of the moment is Nvidia. Read the AI Business story.

Nokia Pitches Practical Telecom AI With Mobile Core Program Launch

Nokia launched a program designed to give operators and enterprises hands-on testing of advanced mobile core features in a live hosted environment. Mobile Core Early Access is pitched as a chance to explore the software driving advanced network connectivity in the AI era, namely 5G core, automation, analytics, and network exposure use cases. Read the SDxCentral story.

Negotiating AI Licensing and Costs: A Step-by-Step Guide for CIOs

CIOs must balance access to innovation with cost control as AI becomes standard. The goal: to avoid paying a premium for features that should be included. Read the TechTarget story.