GSMA Urges Gradual Transition to 6G, Rather Than a 'Big Bang' Change
For wireless carriers today, the move to 5G stand-alone service is a critical next step, said Peter Jarich, head of GSMA Intelligence, during a Mobile World Live virtual conference Thursday. Questions remain about what happens as carriers move from 5G to 5G advanced and 6G and whether that can be done as “an evolution” and not a “big bang” change that will “saddle” operators with huge costs to upgrade their networks, he said.
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Vendors would also benefit from a more gradual transition, Jarich argued. “You get this sort of sugar rush” of money when everyone is upgrading their networks. “Then the sugar high wears off, and I get that headache when no one is spending money.” GSMA is hearing from carriers that open radio access networks (RANs) and AI will likely be embraced more fully as 6G launches (see 2511120008), he said.
Carriers seem to view AI primarily as a way to optimize the performance of their networks, Jarich said. Some other uses, such as running AI and RAN workloads on the same processors, aren’t getting as much traction, he added. “We do need to educate operators in terms of some of the opportunities.” Carriers also need to look more closely at ways to make money carrying traffic created by AI use, he said. If they don’t, that’s “a huge missed opportunity.”
5G isn’t really 5G unless it’s “end to end,” from the core to the handset, said Ankur Kapoor, T-Mobile's chief network officer. T-Mobile was the first to launch a 5G stand-alone network in the U.S. and one of the first globally, he noted. “5G stand-alone is absolutely the backbone of 5G.” T-Mobile’s network now has 40% more capacity than any of its competitors, he said.
The early launch of a stand-alone network put T-Mobile years ahead of its competitors, Kapoor said. The latest generation of 5G lets the carrier do things it couldn’t otherwise do, he said, citing the launch of T-Priority, a service for first responders giving them priority access through network slicing (see 2409180045). A decade ago, T-Mobile was a “generation behind on technology rollout,” but it has gone “from last to first,” Kapoor said. “We have the best spectrum position” and “the most advanced network,” and that’s what customers “are looking for.”
Kapoor also said the recent launch of Apple watches was significant because they use 5G reduced capability (RedCap) technology (see 2507080014). The watches are at least 40% faster on the T-Mobile network than on other networks, he said, and their “actual performance” is exponentially better than the previous generation's. Six-carrier aggregation lets T-Mobile combine six different bands of spectrum, he added. During the 2G era, carriers were able to provide 200 kilobyte channels, and “we’re now talking about 250 MHz minimal” for mobile phones.
Industry is “in the middle of the 5G decade,” said Verizon Chief Technology Officer Yago Tenorio. Moving to 5G stand-alone is opening “new lines of revenue.” This is “the right time” to start focusing on 5G advanced, he argued. “I don’t think it’s too early.” Companies are looking for private networks that offer the same security and mobility as carrier networks, and 5G advanced will help with that, he said.
Tenorio predicted an increasing focus on upload speeds and capacity. As stand-alone “becomes the new norm,” network slicing offers opportunities for new revenue streams, he said. For example, RedCap wearables are becoming “a thing.” The wireless industry needs to “bring cellular connectivity to nearly everything,” and RedCap is “an important step in that direction.” He noted that RedCap technology will reduce the cost of connections and requires fewer antennas than current connections.
In addition, the wireless industry needs “to start deciding what 6G is going to be,” Tenorio said. Without clear direction, carriers will see technology “stretched to the absolute limits of its capabilities.” They should focus on what use cases they want to enable, "then define the technology" in a way that makes new uses "really smooth and frictionless.”
AI may be the killer app for 6G, Tenorio said. Carriers should ask what they have to do to allow AI wearables and “AI everywhere,” he said. “What is the kind of technology that 6G would need to be” for AI to “really scale” starting on Day 1? That’s a better approach than building technology that “looks great” and then waiting for customers to use it, he said.