What is mobile telephony?

Mobile telephony is the cellular version of traditional telephony. It connects smartphones, tablets, other mobile devices, and technologies that rely on cellular connectivity.

More broadly speaking, telephony is the technology that lets you communicate over a distance through the electronic transmission of data. A traditional voice-only connection—a phone call—works by converting sound waves into electrical signals. The signals can also be as a fax or other types of data that might be sent over a phone line. These signals travel through wires and cables to landlines.

While mobile telephony does carry voice calls, its evolution has empowered it to do a lot more. This includes integration with technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI), leading to new possibilities in what mobility can offer.

• Telephony is the foundation for both traditional, wired communication.
• Mobile telephony adds the ability to connect people and devices through wireless, cellular connectivity.
• The evolution of mobile telephony enables technologies like AI and IoT to use cellular connectivity for traffic data.
• The accessibility of these technologies through mobile devices may be a driver in customer demands for personalized experiences.
• The future of mobile telephony includes the ability to further support new and emerging technology data.

Mobile telephony is about more than connecting calls. For businesses, it’s an important data point in how to structure meeting the needs of your customers.

Since mobile telephony is the cellular version of telephony, it uses cellular technology, two-way radio waves, and reception towers to transmit signals and data wirelessly. A cellular network made up of geographic areas (or cells) with individual cell towers sends the radio signals to the receiver’s wireless device. Then the wireless device for the person you’re calling converts the signals back into sound. These signals travel at the speed of light, meaning your cellular activity can be translated between devices almost instantly.

By sending and receiving these signals, devices can wirelessly connect to mobile applications. But mobile telephony does more than that. Since it increasingly carries data for technologies like IoT, it has moved beyond simple mobile uses and now includes communication between devices and the cloud for applications across a business.

Note that mobile telephony is not to be confused with internet telephony, which uses Voice over IP (VoIP) via the internet to transfer voice and other internet-based data.

[Read: What is VoIP?]

For clarity, understand that “mobile telephony” and “cellular connectivity” are referring to the same technology when speaking about mobile devices. Regardless of which term is used, it’s foundational for almost every business today.

Mobile telephony continues to improve how we communicate and collaborate. Through mobile technologies, like smartphones and tablets, we’re able to run our businesses away from an office, better service our customers, and improve productivity.

Today’s mobile telephony does much more. 5G, the fifth generation of wireless cellular technology, enables businesses to move beyond voice. Specifically, 5G for business has transformed wireless connectivity with its unprecedented speed, low latency, and wider bandwidth, enabling businesses to support data-laden uses like cloud connectivity and IoT.¹

[Read: What is cloud connectivity: Benefits and myths explained]

IoT data often carries sensitive information that needs protection and control. Businesses often require more secure connections than the public and use private cellular networks in their mobile telephony strategy. It also allows for more control over how they may customize their cellular network for various business needs.

In an industry like manufacturing where sensitive data may be transmitted over cellular in calls, connections between machines, and other uses, cellular—specifically private cellular—may be the best solution. In fact, manufacturing use of cellular connectivity is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 34% between 2025 and 2030.²

Having the flexibility to use public cellular or private cellular for your business is only one of the key benefits to mobile telephony.

There are many types of traffic data that move across a cellular network. There’s standard communication, and as we’ve discussed, IoT data. In addition, there’s traffic from mobile apps—including social networking, web browsing—and video apps. But there’s also file sharing, audio for music and podcasts, and more. As mobile telephony and interrelated technologies advance and a growing population adopts mobile technology through phones, tablets, wearables, and other tech, the amount of data mobile networks carry will grow.

Data Insights Market reports that between 2025 and 2033, the global data traffic market is expected to have a CAGR of 13.7%. This growth is driven by gaming, video streaming, and “the proliferation of IoT devices.”³

What this means for business is that the opportunities in leveraging mobile telephony for traditional operations, as well as data-heavy technologies to support the business operations and customers alike, will continue to grow.

A few of the key benefits of mobile telephony for business include:

Communication options

Voice and collaboration solutions use the cloud, enabling us to video chat, send text messages, and connect across devices. These often use cloud telephony, which is telephony that enables business to exchange calls and video chats over the internet. Powered by VoIP, users get cloud calling flexibility, scalability, and cost savings through cloud services by integrating multiple forms of communication into one package.

Supporting new and emerging technologies

We’ve mentioned how mobile telephony through 5G supports emerging tech like IoT and AI. There are two things to consider: the proliferation of IoT sensors and devices will continue to expand, and AI is in its initial stages of evolution and adoption. Cellular networks will have no choice but to be developed with a future-forward mindset of these technologies, and other new, emerging, disruptive technologies in mind. That said, a key benefit of mobile telephony is the flexibility to innovate to do so.

Cost flexibility

Mobile telephony can be cost effective by helping to reduce the need for extensive physical infrastructure, reducing expenditures. The success of remote working made possible by mobile telephony helps to reduce office space requirements and the associated costs. And for the relatively low cost of a smartphone and a data plan, your business extensively expands employee communications options without the need for landline phones.

In addition, mobile telephony options are far more flexible than telephony of the past. Business can choose from a variety of types and plans to suit their needs in “as-a-service” or subscription-type models, which enable them to change their usage as their business changes.

Important uses of mobile telephony technology in business include the ability to work remotely, collaborate more effectively, and provide better customer service.

Remote work and collaboration

Anytime you use a smartphone or tablet, you’re using mobile telephony technology. Remote working is a successful business model only when you can stay connected. Real-time collaboration through voice, messaging, and video applications allows you to communicate with other co-workers without delay by using mobile telephony technologies.

Improved customer service

Mobile telephony empowers customer service by enabling support teams—no matter where they are—to respond to clients quickly. Real-time collaboration lets you answer customer inquiries, solving problems on the fly. By having consistent communication across multiple channels, including email, voice, and text, you can speed up order placement and problem resolution, improving the overall customer experience.

With these key applications, the growing utilization of mobile telephony technologies will only continue to increase as businesses become more mobile and modern.

The types of data that move across a cellular network are expanding, and AI is driving a lot of these changes. Not only are technologies becoming more sophisticated, but they’re also incorporating AI as part of their core offerings.

Virtual assistants are embedded into most smartphone models now and they’re increasingly delivering more personalized experiences. Core operating systems are using AI to deliver faster, smarter results and experiences to users. Add to that, AI’s being incorporated into many applications and may be on the verge of being table stakes for application offerings. The future of the smartphone and the data it transmits looks to be heavily based in AI.

What does this look like? First, this means that the cellular networks for mobile telephony must evolve too. For example, mobile 5G connectivity is faster, has lower latency, and is more reliable than older cellular networks—a requirement to carry the heavy data that AI and related technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT) generate and transmit.⁴

[Read: IoT in the Workplace]

It also means that what a smartphone can offer will increasingly become more predictive than responsive. How it functions with power management and system optimization will become more intuitive too. And the apps? Well, something like health monitoring may evolve from biometric tracking to disease diagnosis based on the health data it collects.⁵

And what does this mean for businesses? Consumers are demanding more personalized experiences. Smartphone and mobile telephony evolution will put pressure on businesses to keep up with what mobile technology can do. Websites and apps, no matter if it’s for a small business or enterprise, that don’t incorporate personalization may suffer in performance. Seventy-one percent of consumers now expect their experience to be personalized, 76% says it makes them more likely to purchase, and 78% say it makes them more likely to repurchase.⁶

The relationship between future-forward and -ready technologies and mobile telephony is collaborative. They help each other.

With so much evolution, it may seem overwhelming on how to best evaluate you voice and collaboration systems. So, if you’re not sure where to start, consult with an expert in who can help you evaluate, understand, and where there’s opportunity, roadmap how to make the most of today’s mobile telephony for your business.

Learn more about our mobility products and our business wireless plans that power your devices. And to explore the ways you can be future forward in how you use mobile telephony in your business, contact your AT&T Business representative.

See how ultra-fast, reliable fiber, protected by built-in security, and 5G connectivity give you a new level of confidence in the possibilities of your network. Let our experts work with you to solve your challenges and accelerate outcomes. Your business deserves the AT&T Business difference—a new standard for networking.

¹AT&T 5G req’s compatible plan & device. Coverage not available everywhere.
²“Manufacturing Cellular Connectivity Revenue to Exceed $8 Billion by 2030”, Kaleido Intelligence, June 5, 2025, https://kaleidointelligence.com/manufacturing-cellular-connectivity-revenue-press-release.
³Mobile data Traffic 2025-2033 Overview: Trends, Competitor Dynamics, and Opportunities, Data Insights Market, January 20, 2025, https://www.datainsightsmarket.com/reports/mobile-data-traffic-461886.
⁴AT&T 5G req’s compatible plan & device. Coverage not available everywhere.
⁵Balla, Erika, “How AI is Shaping the Future of Smartphones”, AI Journal, May 3, 2025, https://aijourn.com/how-ai-is-shaping-the-future-of-smartphones/.
⁶Connell, Adam, “35 Eye-Opening Personalization Statistics for 2025, Adam Connell, April 25, 2025, ”https://adamconnell.me/personalization-statistics/.