The Distillery #15: Salesforce & Amazon Push AI Agents, as Revolut Gets Stuck in Limbo

October 2025

Telecoms & Connectivity

Juniper Research

Analyst House

We don’t want to panic you, but time's running out to enter the Telco Innovation Awards 2026.

Entries close next Friday, 24th October, with 29 categories celebrating the best in messaging, networks, roaming, and anti-fraud. You can even nominate your boss — or yourself, if you're feeling especially confident. Submit your free entry (or entries) today!

Also in this edition:

• Salesforce, Amazon, and Visa unveil their latest AI agent platforms.
• Revolut faces fresh delays to its UK banking licence as regulators tighten scrutiny.
• Here are the technologies redefining connectivity in 2026 — and the ones that are falling behind.
• Our latest insights on travel eSIMs, satellite broadband, and cryptocurrencies.

TELECOMS & CONNECTIVITY

Salesforce, Amazon, and Visa Announce New AI Agents

The conversation around AI agents is getting louder. This week, some of the biggest names in tech unveiled new frameworks, platforms, and protocols that bring the concept closer to everyday enterprise use.

Distilled…

🟣 Salesforce announces Agentforce 360. The latest version of Salesforce’s AI agent platform introduces Agent Script; a prompting tool designed to make AI responses more predictable and aligned with customer expectations. Alongside it comes Agentforce Builder, which lets users build, test, and deploy AI agents in one place. Together, these updates aim to simplify enterprise deployment and ensure customer interactions stay consistent and on-brand.

🟣 Amazon opens the doors to AgentCore. Now generally available across nine AWS regions as part of Amazon Bedrock, AgentCore enables enterprises to move faster from testing to production. The platform supports multiple frameworks and models; offering flexibility for different use cases. Crucially, AgentCore Observability provides real-time dashboards and audit trails; giving organisations visibility into how and why agents make decisions — a major step towards trusted AI automation.

🟣 Visa introduces the Trusted Agent Protocol. Developed with Cloudflare, this new framework lets approved AI agents securely pass information to merchants; identifying themselves as trusted entities with commerce intent. It complements Google’s Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), which governs how agents initiate payments, by handling the merchant side; verifying agent identity and intent before processing transactions.

These launches highlight growing sophistication across security, observability, and development tooling — the pillars that will underpin enterprise adoption. And with Visa now bridging the gap between agents and commerce, it’s clear that AI agents are moving well beyond customer support, and into the heart of enterprise operations.

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FINTECH & PAYMENTS

Revolut’s UK Banking Licence Faces Further Delays

Revolut’s bid for a full UK banking licence has been put on hold, as regulators raise concerns over whether its risk controls can keep pace with its expanding international footprint.

The company has held a restricted UK licence since July 2024, and remains one of the UK’s largest challenger banks, with 6.8 million domestic customers and 35 million globally.

Distilled…

🟣 Revolut hasn’t had much luck internationally this year. In April, Lithuania’s central bank fined the company €3.5 million for compliance failings, while July saw Italy’s competition authority launch an investigation into allegedly misleading investment messages and 'aggressive' service practices. Most recently, Australia’s financial intelligence agency AUSTRAC fined the company A$189,000 for late reporting of international transfers.

🟣 As most major UK challenger banks now hold full licences, Revolut’s conspicuous delay puts it under pressure to modernise compliance. With banks and fintechs set to spend over $29 billion on anti-money laundering systems in 2026 (according to our latest figures), Revolut will need to match that momentum; adopting tools such as Natural Language Processing to strengthen monitoring, satisfy regulators, and keep compliance scalable.

🟣 Revolut’s situation also shows how fast growth can outpace governance. As challenger banks mature, expansion into multiple jurisdictions brings new oversight demands, often faster than internal systems can adapt. For Revolut and its peers, sustaining credibility will depend on proving they can match their innovation with the same level of discipline and transparency expected of traditional banks.

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TELECOMS & CONNECTIVITY

The 3 Technologies Redefining Connectivity in 2025

Three technologies are shaking up the connectivity landscape — and operators can’t afford to ignore them.

Our new Connectivity Tech Horizon highlights AI RAN, Direct-to-Device (D2D), and 5G Advanced as the ones to watch over the next 12 months. Here's why:

🟣 AI RAN brings brains to the network. By fusing radio access functions with AI, operators can automate performance in real-time; cutting costs and boosting efficiency without manual intervention. We're expecting operators to invest $21 billion in AI this year; signalling a real push towards self-managing networks.

🟣 D2D satellite connectivity is finally moving from pilot to reality; letting ordinary smartphones link directly to satellites. It promises a step-change in coverage by bringing connectivity to places that terrestrial networks still can’t reach — including rural communities and disaster zones.

🟣 5G Advanced makes 5G interesting again. Acting as the bridge to 6G, 5G Advanced adds serious power to 5G: including stronger uplink capacity, AI-native management, and new enterprise applications that make 5G feel less like a buzzword and more like a business tool.

The Tech Horizon doesn’t just reveal what’s hot — it shows what’s falling behind. With legacy 5G and NB-IoT losing traction, operators need to know where to focus next. Download the full whitepaper today for a data-driven view of the technologies redefining global connectivity.

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ICYMI

The Last Drop

We can’t fit all our work from the last fortnight in one issue, so here’s a hand-picked selection of blogs, infographics, and insights that deserve your attention.

📶 Travel eSIM revenue is set to hit $1.8 billion in 2025, up 85% from 2024, as travellers increasingly swap roaming for embedded connectivity.

🏆 The winners of the Fintech & Payments Awards 2025 are in! Who are the innovators reshaping digital banking, payments, and fraud prevention?

🌐 The satellite broadband market is projected to exceed $20 billion by 2030 — a signal that space-based connectivity is nearing mainstream relevance.

💳 Binance’s new Mastercard in Brazil is crypto’s biggest usability test yet. The question: can digital assets really compete with cash and cards?

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