Ookla: U.S. 5G Mobile Networks Lack AI Readiness
The company found U.S. internet speeds can cause delays in AI performance.
WASHINGTON, July 8, 2026 – As artificial intelligence becomes more prominent in today’s environment, U.S. 5G mobile networks are falling short, internet metrics and diagnostics company Ookla reports.
In a July 7 report, Ookla industry analyst Affandy Johan wrote, “The report asks whether today’s 5G mobile networks are ready for AI workloads – and finds that answer depends on metrics that have drawn far less attention than download speed.”
The report found that because U.S. providers have optimized infrastructure for fast downloads, domestic networks lack upload capacity and rapid responsiveness needed for AI.
There is a severe lack of upload speed, with U.S. providers allocating just 5.1% of network capacity to uplink, down from 8% in 2023. Additionally, the U.S. misses the 50-millisecond latency needed for smooth AI performance, meaning AI’s quality declines under heavy user congestion.
While U.S. 5G mobile networks can handle basic AI, transit times to cloud servers lag at 66 to 77 milliseconds. This causes American carriers to lack infrastructure capabilities to handle faster, more advanced AI models as technology develops.
Ookla tested 5G’s AI performance by measuring upload capacity, latency underload and quality of the path to the cloud using Speedtest Intelligence 5G data across 22 markets and 86 markets.
