Cisco wants Congress to “accelerate the U.S. AI-native stack” to better support network firms facing unprecedented AI traffic demands.
Bob Everson, chief architect for Cisco’s service provider mobility team, outlined a series of policy priorities during his testimony before the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Media.
Everson told lawmakers that AI-driven campus and branch traffic will surge by 209% over the next three years, while the rise of AI agents will place even further strain on networks, citing internal testing that saw agents generate 450% more traffic per task than human users.
Such demands on the nation’s critical networks, Everson warned, require “more balanced network designs” and emphasis on the locations where computing occurs, impacting performance, cost, and data governance.
Among the policy recommendations outlined during his testimony, Everson stressed the need for permitting and infrastructure to be modernized.
The Senate Subcommittee is tasked with examining the Universal Service Fund (USF), which provides for subsidies and fees managed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for expanding affordable telecom and broadband access. The Cisco exec told the subcommittee that it should “account for the evolving costs of AI-ready networks” when evaluating the fund “so rural and urban communities can share in the benefits.”
Everson also praised the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)’s recent call to action for “trusted” governments to join efforts on 6G standards. The exec called for Congress to “lean in on American strengths” across 5G, computing, and wireless in order to build the foundation of next-generation networks like 6G.
“AI-native mobile networks can use spectrum and infrastructure more efficiently, adapt in real time, and enable new services. For service providers, this can also turn the network into a platform for growth, opening new revenue streams beyond connectivity through services like inference optimization, edge AI, trusted AI services, and industry-specific solutions,” Everson said.
The Cisco exec also called for “a balanced spectrum policy” to ensure effective next-generation network build out. Everson described the 800 megahertz of licensed spectrum recently made available by Congress as “essential to high-capacity, high-uplink connectivity.”
“The FCC’s authorization of the six-gigahertz band for unlicensed use is equally important to meeting enterprise demand. A dependable pipeline of both is foundational to American leadership, and I thank you for your efforts to rebuild it,” Everson added.