Joining Sensors Converge Advisory Board

“DeepSeek has profoundly disrupted the GenAI & LLM landscape. It democratizes AI with cost-optimized training techniques such as distillation, chain-to-thought reasoning, reinforced learning, and others. It will be even more helpful for inferencing on the edge, where low-latency, power-optimized AI models are essential. Hence, Deep Seek will accelerate the AI move toward the edge.

Contrary to popular belief, I don’t think it will replace the existing LLMs. Gen AI is still in its infancy, so there is a lot more room for such disruptions. These disruptions will decide how technology evolves rather than replacing existing solutions.”

“AI is transforming enterprises, incubating disruptive start-ups, and empowering entrepreneurs at an unprecedented and breathtaking pace,” said Pankaj Kedia, Founder and Managing Partner at 2468 Ventures LLC., an AI Investing, Advisory, and Consulting Firm, and TiE South Coast Charter Member. “We are delighted to launch the inaugural AI2025 Innovation Awards, recognize individuals who are seizing the AI mantle, and look forward to celebrating their achievements at the upcoming TiE South Coast AI Conference. Heartiest congratulations to all the well-deserving winners.”

• Prakash Sangam: Founder and Principal at Tantra Analyst, a leading boutique Industry Analyst firm focused on cellular IPR, 5G, AI, IoT, cloud and edge compute, Wi-Fi and other emerging tech.

Qualcomm claims trial win in dispute with Arm over chip design licences

“It is clear that Qualcomm came out on top,” said Prakash Sangam, founder and principal analyst at tech consultancy Tantra Analyst, who was present throughout the trial. “Two of the three questions were a unanimous decision in their favour, and the judge made it clear that she was not keen on a quick retrial.”

Tech supplier Arm plans to hike prices, has considered developing its own chips

“It was news to me that Arm is even thinking about (making its own chip),” said Tantra Analyst founder Prakash Sangam, who attended the trial. “It should send a chill down the spine of their customers.”

Satellite Mobile Phones Have a Long—and Not So Illustrious—Past

Other issues contributed to these failures, including the limited battery life of satellite phones and the expense of maintaining satellite networks, according to Prakash Sangam, founder of Tantra Analyst, a technology research and advisory firm.

“Satellites are not a rival to terrestrial networks,” Mr. Sangam says. “It’s always been an augmentation, or complementary, to it.”

Apple’s Not-So-Secret Plan to Take Another Gigantic Bite of the Microchip Market

Despite Apple’s tremendous resources and growing army of wireless engineers, one thing that even the giant of Cupertino may find difficult to overcome is just how much time it takes to design, manufacture and then test a new wireless modem, says Prakash Sangam, founder of the tech research and advisory firm Tantra Analyst and a former wireless engineer at AT&T and director of marketing at Qualcomm.

“People often compare how Apple developed its A-series chipsets on their own, and how quickly they were able to up their game, but in some ways a modem is more complex,” says Mr. Sangam. In part, that complexity arises because a modem must handle such a wide variety of circumstances that can interfere with a signal—as Apple discovered during its infamous “Antennagate” episode more than a decade ago.

“If you throw enough time and resources and money at it, it can be done,” he adds. “But whether they can do it by 2023, I don’t think anyone other than Apple can say.”

Apple’s pursuit of Intel’s modem unit is all about ‘doubling down’ on 5G

“”Apple does realize it’s not another chip — it’s strategic intellectual property in a connected device, said Prakash Sangam, founder of Tantra Analyst, a research and advisory firm. “This is one of the key strategic pieces of IP they don’t have, and it makes sense to own it.”

“By combining them, Apple could have a more complete system on a chip (SOC), said Tantra’s Sangam.”

Apple to buy Intel’s wireless chip unit for $1B

“‘Apple does realize it’s not another chip — it’s strategic intellectual property in a connected device,’ said Prakash Sangam, founder of Tantra Analyst, a research and advisory firm… previously told CNBC. “This is one of the key strategic pieces of IP they don’t have, and it makes sense to own it.”

State of the Connected World 2020 Edition Insight Report December 2020

“‘According to Prakash Sangam ……The consequences of hacking into IoT networks, which typically have simple end devices, have the potential to be far more catastrophic. Hacking the electricity supply in a major city, he notes, could bring entire metropolitan areas to a halt and cause significant damage’ … 

he said … ‘It would be a mistake to deploy IoT devices (and networks) and start using them for critical applications without properly understanding and addressing the security risks, as retroactively securing them is going to be extremely hard and expensive, as well as time consuming, and sometimes it may not even be possible at all.’”

As Arm plays chicken with Qualcomm, both have a lot to lose

However, analyst Prakash Sangam said he believes the two companies could still eventually settle because of the potential consequences of the lawsuit.

“There’s nothing stopping Qualcomm from doing what they are planning to do while the case drags on, Whereas for Arm, if they are to do an IPO, and if you’re an investor in the IPO, you will be worried about how the case will turn out,” he added

Who’s Who in 5G – Analyst, Jun 2022

Huawei Security Concerns Front and Center as West Seeks 5G Alternatives

Sangam said. ‘The vulnerability is not just because of supply chain … but the complexity of the technology and the huge risk-and-reward equation.‘”

Trump Vows to Win 5G Race

“‘Creating a national fund to support these innovators is a great idea,’ said Prakash Sangam, the founder of Tantra Analyst, which is involved in marketing and business development of wireless technology.”

Gauging the Impact of Qualcomm’s New 5G Chips for Industrial IoT

“The industrial IoT sector is evolving, and industry 4.0 is taking shape. There is extremely high interest and scope to utilize 5G for industrial IoT,” Sangam wrote in response to questions.

The collection of segments and needs pertaining to industrial IoT is vast, with variances on speed, capacity, latency, battery life, cost, and longevity, he added. Industrial IoT covers both extremes — a low traffic agricultural sensor or high-bandwidth video surveillance fused with artificial intelligence (AI).

Operators seek revenue gains after heavy AI investment

Tantra Analyst founder and principal Prakash Sangam told Insight the biggest impact of AI will be in automating operations, both within customer service, including marketing and sales, and in the network.

A key challenge is access to reliable and valid data, he stated, noting “although operators are sitting on a data gold mine, not all of it is a readily usable form, and they also lack a skilled workforce to quickly adopt AI”.

Sangam added energy saving is one of the use cases with the highest interest, with most of the action on shutting down MIMO layers and sites when not needed. “Virtual RAN and open RAN is proving to be the most fertile ground for this”.

MWL Analyst Q&A: MWC22 Hopes and Expectations

Three leading industry analysts — Prakash Sangam of Tantra Analyst, Peter Jarich or GSMA Intelligence, and Chris Jones of Canlys, share their predictions on what will be the hot themes and technologies at MWC22 in Barcelona, and offer their views on the major industry challenges for the year ahead.

Why Dish could break new ground for public cloud and open RAN

They can definitely launch the network”, said Prakash Sangam, founder and principal of Tantra Analyst. He said that the current limitations of open RAN will not prevent Dish from lighting up networks ……
But supporting high levels of traffic and multiple use cases through network slicing will require more from open RAN, Sangam warned. He noted that the technology does not currently support carrier aggregation, which Dish and other operators will need in order to fully leverage their spectrum holdings. Sangam pointed to the work Qualcomm and Vodafone are undertaking to create new open RAN reference designs as an important step in the right direction.

Book: Mastering 5G Network Design, Implementation, & Operations

“Here is my statement in my words – Any network technology is only as good as its design, deployment, and management. That is even more true in complex and high-performance technology like 5G. In this book, Shyam Varan Nath (Author), Ananya Simlai (Author), and Oğuzhan Kara address these topics in a simple, easy-to-understand, and practical way such that everybody, from novices to experts can master 5G.”

Prakash Sangam
Founder & Principal, Tantra Analyst

FAA says $26M will cover costs to prevent 5G interference

“In my view, the direct and indirect cost of all resources, including from the government, stakeholders, and media spent on the issue, is far higher than the paltry $26 million.” Said Prakash Sangam

Can 5G set the building blocks for 6G?: Special Report

As new G’s come out, next generations discussions always start with “what is the killer app,” according to Sangam.

In his view, the “6G answer for that will be ‘network is the killer app.”

Asked if about if the need or technology will come first for 6G, Sangam said so far 3G-5G have been led by technology before need. “For 6G, it all depends on how quickly the later phases of 5G accelerate.”

Qualcomm wants to kick up Industrial IoT with its new 5G modem

Prakash Sangam, founder of Tantra Analyst, said the 315 modem will mainly address a set of use cases for high bandwidth, high speed, high capacity, long battery life and high reliability needed for factory automation, connectivity in retail stores, video surveillance and asset protection, robotics, signage and agricultural automation.
A purpose-built modem other than the X65 for smartphones is needed to meet rugged performance in industrial locations, he added.

MWC: The Analysts Speak!

March 13, 2023

“Prakash Sangam, founder and principal at Tantra Analyst, was impressed with Marvell’s Octeon10Fusion for vRAN/OpenRAN L-1 accelerators. “This is what Nokia will be using and supported by many players, including Dell,” Sangam said.

Iridium/Qualcomm Breakup Seen Pointing to SCS Challenges

November 14, 2023

…With Samsung not adopting the Iridium-enabled service, and the U.S. being primarily served by Apple and Samsung smartphones, that undercut the point of the Qualcomm/Iridium partnership, Tantra Analyst’s Prakash Sangam told us. He said OEMs are likely more interested in doing something directly with satellite systems, rather than relying on a relationship with Qualcomm…

Is Open RAN in the running?

“There are still many hurdles and challenges to overcome, such as supporting advanced features such as carrier aggregation, higher order MIMO, beamforming/steering and others, which require complex, latency sensitive interaction between different RAN blocks,” says Prakash Sangam, founder and principal of Tantra Analyst, “ OpenRAN has finally graduated from an interesting concept to reality, but it will take considerable time to be mainstream and a default option.”

The three big telco AI use cases—and a lot more sub-use cases

Date: June 16, 2024

This article was written based on a Prakash Sangam’s presentation “The AI Showcase – which use cases are demonstrating the most value for telcos right now? at Telco AI Forum event.

In designing and delivering MEC (and private network) solutions, T-Mobile US touts a “just-right” approach to meet customers where they are

Date: April 21, 2023

Prakash Sangam described MEC as “one of the important topics being discussed as part of 5G, and indeed, [it] holds a great promise in terms of revolutionizing a lot of applications and services and how they are managed, especially for the enterprise market. MEC is also something where hyperscalers and…operators have to collaborate very closely.”

Four factors shaping mobile edge computing

Sangam’s four vectors shaping mobile edge computing are highly-reliable connectivity, ultra-low latency, extreme capacity and power-efficient compute for artificial intelligence and machine learning.

“Edge computing is where these two ecosystems either merge or collide or compete,” he said. “They have to collaborate.”

Verizon VP talks public cloud for network workloads and Open RAN interop

In an interview with Tantra Analyst Founder Prakash Sangam during recent Telco Cloud Forum, Bill Stone of Verizon said, “When it gets to the telco workloads, including what we’re talking about here today with vRAN and O-RAN, Verizon remains committed to disaggregating hardware and software and selecting the best available partner for each of the components.”

3GPP: 5G-Advanced coming with Release 18

According to Tantra Analyst Founder Prakash Sangam, also a member of 3GPP, “TSG-RAN is probably the biggest in terms of size, scope, and number of activities…The primary objective of the RAN chair is to ensure all the members are working collaboratively to develop next-generation standards through 3GPP’s marquee consensus-based, impartial approach.”

3GPP Rel. 16 – Stage set for the next phase of 5G, New Radio specification

Sangam detailed [that] “…The bottom line is, with the standards finalized, the ecosystem can now focus on building products and start the next phase of their 5G journey. I expect the first features to appear in networks starting from early 2021.”

Qualcomm posts strong revenue

“Qualcomm’s adjacencies in Automotive and IoT are also strong. They seem to have the right product mix to support the demand. As they continue to bring in new technology, it will be interesting to see how quickly their promise comes to a reality.”

Qualcomm Wins Appeal

“…huge win for San Diego” after five years of uncertainty and shareholder anxiety, said Prakash Sangam, an analyst at Tantra Analyst. The company can now move forward and prepare for 6G, he said

FTC Challenges Qualcomm Antitrust Win

“I believe, eventually, this case will go into the history books as a great precedent for antitrust law in the realm of patents and licensing,” said Sangam.

Is the IoT module debate about security, competition or xenophobia?

…fears over Chinese espionage are now shifting into the market for cellular Internet of Things (IoT) modules. (It’s worth noting that analysts like Tantra Analyst’s Prakash Sangam have been discussing this topic for years)

3GPP moving to prevent power grab by Apple, others

“It’s not just Apple, but many other companies, including traditional ones and Chinese, send lots of delegates to 3GPP meetings. These companies can potentially influence voting,” wrote Prakash Sangam, founder and principal of Tantra Analyst, in response to questions from Light Reading. “All the key positions in 3GPP are elected. So, limiting max votes per company limits the oversized influence of large corporations.”

US military eyes expanding deployment to 3GPP for 5G

Prakash Sangam of Tantra Analyst added that the DoD can aid in the development of the 5G standard by issuing usage requirements as well as contributing technologies from its research and development efforts and, potentially, by helping to drive the standard itself. 

Sangam added: “This would politicize the process, develop regional groups and slow down development and affect 3GPP’s fabric, and move it away from consensus based, commercial focus.”

Standards Group Struggles to Balance Tech With Politics

“‘…Prakash Sangam, the founder of Tantra Analyst who previously worked for Qualcomm, Ericsson and AT&T, attended the meeting and said that the 3GPP agreed to begin working…”

Nokia, CommScope, Cisco, others raise equipment prices

I think pricing is a complex and dynamic issue,” wrote Prakash Sangam of Tantra Analyst in response to questions from Light Reading. “The overall threat of inflation, but more importantly, the chipset supply squeeze has definitely put upward pressure on the prices”

..But Sangam also pointed out that some large equipment supply contracts extend through multiple years, making it difficult for vendors to suddenly increase prices significantly. Further, he said the industry-wide shift to software and virtualization could help lower overall pricing.

Why AI and 5G make a good team

“’Together, AI and 5G will make possible capabilities that never existed before,’ says Prakash Sangam, principal and founder of Tantra Analyst, a high-tech research, analysis and strategic advisory firm”

Huawei’s crisis and the future of standards

“I seriously don’t think a split is going to happen,” declares Prakash Sangam [regarding the effect on 5G standardization because of the US ban on Huawei].

Apple iPhone maker Wistron sets up big warehouse in Hoskote

Prakash Sangam said … “For many major companies looking to actively diversity away from China, India has become an attractive destination. This action is a great example of such a move. IT is incumbent on the government to provide a favourable regulatory environment and infrastructure to make the best of the situation.”

As virus spreads, enterprise collaboration tools make big gains

“HTC is holding its V2EC2020 conference virtually…..there is a strong possibility of this (virtual workplace) becoming a norm going forward. This will also give a huge boost to new technologies such as AR/VR and even 5G. And that could be the silver lining of this unexpectited huge global crisis,” Sangam said.

Apple now has a chip design team in Bengaluru

“Prakash Sangam … said acquiring the Bengaluru team helps Apple to easily start using Intel’s 4G and 3G modems, as the Bengaluru team worked on it … Gives a head start to Apple in developing 5G modem..”

Internet Outage: Is it time we start talking about decentralized CDNs?

“This concept has been around for a while but is plagued with issues. It eats into the bandwidth of users, affecting both uplink and downlink. Also, it significantly affects the battery and processor capacity of PCs,” said Tech analyst Prakash Sangam while speaking to TV9 Digital.
Instead, Edge Clouds could be the solution he believes.
“Edge Clouds or Edge computing creates architecture which stores and processes data close to the users. It offers better privacy and also provides resilience against such failures. It is a hot topic in the 5G ecosystem and can be looked at in the case of CDNs too,” he added.

Qualcomm has passed Apple

“‘…Almost every phone OEM, even the smallest ones will have 5G phones in 2020. But iPhone, which costs more than $1000 not having 5G will severely affect Apple’s brand…” says Prakash Sangam

Apple now has a chip design team in Bengaluru

Prakash Sangam says “Technically there are no major antirust issues as both are complimentary businesses. (companies like Apple, Qualcomm and Huawei ) will absolutely be worried about licensing. Nvidia competes hard. “