The content team at Channel Partners Newsletter 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. We are tracking—with the help of ChatGPT along with AI tools our parent Informa has developed—a roundup based on story traffic, mentions, impressions, reposts, and social media engagement. All links are valid as of Oct. 22.

Charter Plans to Cut 1,200 Workers

Charter Communications will lay off 1,200 employers – more than 1% of its workforce – ahead of its $34.5B Cox merger, the Wall Street Journal reported. The report said the cuts will come mainly in corporate and back-office functions both at the company’s Stamford, Conn., headquarters and around the country. Charter’s staff reduction comes after a recent round of layoffs at Comcast’s NBCUniversal and ahead of significant cuts expected at Paramount. Read the Wall Street Journal story.

Opinion: Verizon Needs New CEO Schulman to Pick up the Pieces

Fierce Network’s Monica Alleven writes that Verizon’s new CEO Dan Schulman’s job is to “pick up the pieces and put Verizon back together again” after replacing Hans Vestberg. Alleven pointed out that “Verizon’s been bleeding postpaid wireless subscribers for a while now and it was only a matter of time before heads were going to roll.” She said Schulman must convince consumers that Verizon is still the best network. Read the Fierce Network story.

Gartner’s 10 Critical IT Trends

Gartner identified 10 critical technology trends that will reshape enterprise operations by 2026, with AI taking center stage across multiple domains. The 10 trends disclosed at the Gartner IT Symposium were: AI supercomputing platform, multiagent systems, domain-specific language models, AI security platforms, AI-native development platforms, confidential computing, physical AI, preemptive cybersecurity, digital provenance and geopatriation. Read the Informa TechTarget story.

T-Mobile Goes Big on 5G Advanced for Enterprises

T-Mobile is making the most of its 5G lead to attract larger enterprise customers with the addition of two new products to its Advanced Network Solutions propositions. Edge Control for mission-critical data networks and the T-Platform unified management portal for all the operator's business services are now generally available. The operator was the first to launch 5G standalone (SA) in the US five years ago and added further capabilities with the nationwide roll out of 5G Advanced earlier this year, which together have enabled business-focused services such as T-Priority and SuperMobile. See the LightReading story.

Telecom Glass Half-Empty but Filling up

After some admittedly challenging years for the telecoms industry, analyst firm Omdia points to indications that the situation is improving for operators, although investments in artificial intelligence have yet to really make their mark. Omdia figures point to a 2.8% CAGR for telecoms from 2025 to 2030. The industry has delivered two consecutive years of record free cash flow, above 17% of sales. And there has been a further reduction in capex, which is trending towards 15% of revenues. See the LightReading story.

Cloud Marketplace Sales to Skyrocket

Multiyear enterprise cloud commitments will lead software sales to increase more than fivefold in the next five years, according to Omdia. The analyst firm forecasts enterprise software sales through hyperscaler cloud marketplaces will increase from $30 billion in 2024 to $163 billion by 2030. The exponential sales growth reflects enterprise adoption of marketplace procurement, as well as increased agentic AI sales. Read the Channel Dive story.

HPE, Ericsson, Red Hat Target Telecom Cloud-Native Integration

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Ericsson, and Red Hat are creating a validation lab in Sweden focused on fostering integrated multivendor telecommunication platforms targeted at operators looking for scalable core infrastructure to power their 5G network deployments. The lab will include a test stack comprised of Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G Core platform; HPE’s ProLiant Compute Gen12 servers and Juniper Apstra fabric managed by its Data Center Director; and Red Hat’s OpenShift. This platform, which will be located near Ericsson’s headquarters, will initially be used to support real-world testing and feedback, with plans next year to shift that focus to validating the integrated offering. Read the SDxCentral story.

Wytec International Expands with 200+ Telecom Channel Partners

Wytec International announced rapid revenue generation expansion through partnerships with over 200 telecom channel partners, demonstrating the continued growth and importance of channel strategies in the telecommunications sector. Read the Barchart story.

Analyst: Cable Losing Ground to Fixed Wireless and Fiber

Dell'Oro Group analyst Jeff Heynen reported at a Fiber Broadband Association webinar that fiber and fixed wireless are expected to continue eroding cable's dominant market share in North American broadband. Heynen said the cable industry has now accepted that a significant portion of its subscriber losses are due to fixed-wireless access (FWA). Read the Communications Daily story.