6G
GSMA Vision 2040 study identifies spectrum needs during the peak 6G era of 2035–2040
According to a recent GSMA Vision 2040 study, many cities worldwide could face capacity limitations by 2030 if mid-band spectrum availability does not increase, impacting over half of the global urban population. Strategic long-term planning for future wireless generations like 6G is necessary, as device and equipment development can take over a decade, with 6G expected to account for roughly 5 billion connections by 2040 while 4G and 5G remain prevalent. The GSMA’s modeling forecasts a significant rise in traffic, potentially reaching 4,000 EB/month by 2040 in a high-growth scenario driven by AI-enabled applications. The report’s analysis shows that countries must act now to secure enough spectrum for 6G, or risk slower speeds, rising congestion and lost economic opportunity in the 2030s.The GSMA cautions that without early government planning, consumers could face poorer connectivity, businesses may struggle to adopt new technologies, and national digital economies could lose competitiveness in the global transition to 6G.
“Next-generation 6G networks will require up to three times more mid-band spectrum than is typically available today to keep pace with surging demand for data, AI-powered services and advanced digital applications, according to new analysis published today by the GSMA, which represents the mobile ecosystem worldwide.”
John Giusti, Chief Regulatory Officer, GSMA:
“This study shows that the 6G era will require three times more mid-band spectrum than is available today. Satisfying these spectrum requirements will support robust and sustainable connectivity, deliver digital ambitions and help economies grow. I hope this report provides useful insights to governments as they strive to meet the connectivity needs of their citizens in the coming decade.”
Long-Term Spectrum Planning Underpins Enterprise Strategy:
Planning for 6G requires a substantial lead time; the report highlights that device ecosystem readiness and equipment development cycles often span a decade or more. Telecom operators must finalize decisions regarding fiber backhaul, Radio Access Network (RAN) upgrades, and site acquisitions years before new services go live. Enterprises developing AI-driven products or advanced mobility services rely heavily on this network predictability.
The report’s modeling suggests 6G will account for roughly 5 billion connections by 2040—approximately half of all global mobile connections. However, 4G and 5G will remain heavily utilized, particularly in emerging markets, making immediate spectrum re-farming impractical. Operators will increasingly rely on multi-RAT spectrum sharing (MRSS) to manage parallel generations of mobile technology. While MRSS offers improved efficiency over current dynamic spectrum sharing methods, coexistence introduces inherent operational complexity.
AI, Sensing, and the Power User Dynamic:
Demand is shifting toward intelligence-driven workloads, resulting in projected traffic growth across all GSMA scenarios. Even the most conservative projection forecasts 10% annual growth between 2030 and 2040, reaching 1,700 EB/month. The high-growth scenario predicts 4,000 EB/month, driven largely by AI-enabled applications.
The report identifies four primary channels through which Artificial Intelligence will impact traffic:
- New applications: including multimodal assistants.
- Performance demands: higher requirements for existing experiences like personalized video.
- Increased time online.
- Efficiency gains: some optimization through compression.
Enterprises implementing AI assistants, high-definition video, or hybrid cloud-edge processing will contribute significantly to this shift, requiring a focus on increased uplink demand.
A key behavioral finding is that 10% of users currently generate 60-70% of mobile traffic. As digitally-native generations mature, these usage patterns will become mainstream. Enterprise solutions for mobility, frontline workers, and customer engagement must be architected to handle these higher sustained uplink and downlink loads.
Geospatial analysis shows that 83% of traffic is concentrated in 5% of geographic areas. Dense-urban traffic can be nearly 700x higher per square kilometer than in rural areas. For enterprises operating in high-demand zones (e.g., logistics hubs, retail corridors, public venues), the localized performance of RAN deployments will determine service reliability and efficacy.
Mid-Band Spectrum as 6G’s Anchor Capability:
The GSMA study asserts that dense-urban areas will require 2-3 GHz of mid-band spectrum globally by 2035-2040, increasing to 2.5-4 GHz in higher-demand markets. Many regions currently provide only around 1 GHz, necessitating an additional 1-3 GHz allocation. The report stresses that at least 2 GHz must be operational by 2030 to prevent early 6G rollouts from facing immediate congestion.
This additional spectrum capacity enables several critical 6G capabilities:
- Low latency: Wide channels required for sub-10 ms latency supporting digital twins and real-time sensors.
- Balanced performance: Symmetrical uplink/downlink performance for real-time bi-directionality.
- Efficiency: Efficient reuse of existing bands via MRSS.
- Optimized deployment: Reduced reliance on mmWave, which is not economical for wide-area traffic coverage.
Operational Constraints to Manage:
- Densification Limits: Most urban networks operate optimally within inter-site distances of 200-800m. Further densification introduces rapidly escalating costs, making spectrum acquisition a more scalable solution.
- mmWave Role: Millimeter wave (mmWave) remains a supplementary technology, suitable for localized capacity but limited to carrying 5-10% of dense-urban traffic; it does not replace mid-band for wide-area coverage.
- Wi-Fi Offload: Due to its unmanaged nature, Wi-Fi offload cannot deliver the predictable performance guarantees required for mission-critical 6G-era applications.
- Gradual Re-farming: With 4G and 5G still prevalent through 2040, MRSS is essential for balancing capacity across generations of radio technology.
Recommendations for Telecoms Companies:
Telecom operators should develop a long-term spectrum roadmap informed by these findings, prioritizing 2-3 GHz globally, with targets up to 4 GHz in high-demand markets. Key actions include:
- Prioritize 6 GHz: Focus on the upper 6 GHz band, which offers approximately 700 MHz of new capacity between 6.425-7.125 GHz.
- Integrate MRSS: Build multi-RAT spectrum sharing into core network design to balance 4G, 5G, and 6G operations.
- Model Uplink Demands: Plan for greater asymmetric demands driven by future uplink-heavy workloads (e.g., enterprise AI, sensing).
- Address Vertical Needs: Prepare specific service level agreements (SLAs) for verticals such as manufacturing, transport, and retail that require guaranteed latency and reliability.
- Evaluate Densification: Utilize densification strategically in high-value, targeted areas rather than as a broad replacement for acquiring additional spectrum.
Conclusions:
Spectrum policy directly translates to concrete operational outcomes. A city or nation’s ability to deliver reliable 6G performance will be a key determinant of future economic growth and service innovation. For both telecom operators and enterprise technology leaders, aligning current investment strategies with critical spectrum decisions is essential for defining next-generation connectivity infrastructure. The full study is available on the GSMA Intelligence website.
Editor’s Note:
ITU-R is the SDO (Standards Development Organization) that defines the framework, requirements, and evaluation criteria for IMT-2030 (6G) systems, which includes identifying the necessary spectrum. The WRC-23 identified key frequency ranges (e.g., 4400-4800 MHz, 7125-8400 MHz, and 14.8-15.35 GHz) for further study for IMT-2030 under a WRC-27 agenda item.
After WRC determines the IMT 2030 frequencies, ITU-R WP 5D will develop a recommendation for IMT 2030 Frequency Arrangements, just as it did for IMT 2020, but it was delayed due to bickering and only was finalized after the ITU-R M.2150 recommendation (IMT 2020 RIT/SRITs) was approved. Specifically, ITU-R M.1036-7 provides harmonized frequency bands to facilitate global roaming and economies of scale, while acknowledging that specific national band plans may vary due to existing services.
References:
https://www.telecomstechnews.com/news/the-spectrum-decisions-shaping-gsma-6g-era-report/
Big 5G Conference: 6G spectrum sharing should learn from CBRS experiences
India’s TRAI releases Recommendations on use of Tera Hertz Spectrum for 6G
WRC-23 concludes with decisions on low-band/mid-band spectrum and 6G (?)
https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-R/study-groups/rsg5/rwp5d/imt-2030/pages/default.aspx
Do ITU Radio Regulations Matter? China allocates 6 GHz spectrum for 5G and 6G services prior to WRC 23; CTIA objects!
Gartner: Gen AI nearing trough of disillusionment; GSMA survey of network operator use of AI
GSMA: China’s 5G market set to top 1 billion this year
Highlights of GSMA study: Mobile Net Zero 2024, State of the Industry on Climate Action
GSMA- ESA to collaborate on on new satellite and terrestrial network technologies
GSMA: Closing the digital divide in Central Asia and the South Caucasus
Keysight and partners make UK’s first 100 Gbps “6G” Sub-THz connection
Highlights:
- Data link made at speeds greater than 100 Gbps at a frequency of 300 GHz using both 32 and 64 quadrature amplitude modulation
- Achievement enabled by Keysight’s 6G sub-THz testbed platform
Keysight Technologies, Inc, in collaboration with National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and the University of Surrey, has made the first 6G connection at speeds greater than 100 gigabits per second (Gbps) over sub-terahertz (THz) frequencies in the U.K.
Future 6G use cases, such as augmented reality and autonomous vehicles, will require data throughput speeds from 100 Gbps to 1 terabit per second (Tbps). To achieve the extreme data speeds and low latencies required by these revolutionary use cases, the use of sub-THz frequencies is being explored. However, operations in sub-THz frequency bands introduce signal integrity and path loss challenges that can negatively impact performance.
Keysight, NPL, and the University of Surrey established the first sub-THz high throughput 6G testbed in the U.K. to address these challenges. Funded by the U.K. government for 6G research, NPL and Surrey scientists are using the testbed to study and characterize sub-THz signal performance to generate new techniques for optimizing data paths and calibration methodologies.
Located at NPL, this new 6G testbed achieved the U.K.’s first high-speed sub-THz data link. The demonstration was made at a frequency of 300 GHz using both 32 and 64 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). Built on Keysight’s 6G Sub-Terahertz R&D Testbed, the testbed uses the M8194A Arbitrary Waveform Generator (AWG) combined with Virginia Diodes Inc. (VDI) upconverters / downconverters to generate the signal and Keysight’s UXR0704A Infiniium multichannel high-performance 70 GHz oscilloscope to analyze the signal.
Keysight, NPL, and the University of Surrey will demonstrate the new 6G testbed at the Spring 2023 6G Symposium at the University of Surrey, April 24-26.
Irshaad Fatadin, Principal Scientist, National Physical Laboratory, said: “6G is a key focus for NPL and we are using our scientific and measurement capabilities to tackle the challenges of this new technology. Our partnership with Keysight will be a critical success factor in our 6G research work.”
Mosaab Abughalib, Senior Research Director and General Manager for Keysight’s Network Emulation Group, said: “Through this partnership we are bringing Keysight solutions and experts together with scientists from NPL and the University of Surrey to unlock the true potential of 6G.”
Resources:
- White paper: 6G: Going beyond 100Gbps to 1 Tbps
- Keysight 6G Sub-Terahertz R&D Testbed
- M8194A Arbitrary Waveform Generator (AWG)
- UXR0704A Infiniium UXR-Series Oscilloscope
About Keysight in 6G:
Keysight creates the runway that enables researchers to launch evolutionary and revolutionary technology platform solutions based on 5G-Advanced and 6G technologies. A cohesive set of design and development building blocks across multiple interconnected technology domains enables innovators to spark new insights. Keysight plays a pivotal role in bringing to life 6G use cases that have the potential to transform society, enhance human interactions, enable enterprises to achieve greater efficiencies, and accelerate life-changing innovations.
About Keysight Technologies:
At Keysight (NYSE: KEYS), we inspire and empower innovators to bring world-changing technologies to life. As an S&P 500 company, we’re delivering market-leading design, emulation, and test solutions to help engineers develop and deploy faster, with less risk, throughout the entire product lifecycle. We’re a global innovation partner enabling customers in communications, industrial automation, aerospace and defense, automotive, semiconductor, and general electronics markets to accelerate innovation to connect and secure the world.
Learn more at Keysight Newsroom and www.keysight.com.
References:
Enable-6G: Yet another 6G R&D effort spearheaded by Telefónica de España
China to introduce early 6G applications by 2025- way in advance of 3GPP specs & ITU-R standards
India unveils Bharat 6G vision document, launches 6G research and development testbed
NTT DOCOMO & SK Telecom Release White Papers on Energy Efficient 5G Mobile Networks and 6G Requirements
Juniper Research: 5G to Account for 80% of Operator Revenue by 2027; 6G Requires Innovative Technologies
China’s MIIT to prioritize 6G project, accelerate 5G and gigabit optical network deployments in 2023
China Mobile unveils 6G architecture with a digital twin network (DTN) concept
Summary of ITU-R Workshop on “IMT for 2030 and beyond” (aka “6G”)
NTT DOCOMO & SK Telecom Release White Papers on Energy Efficient 5G Mobile Networks and 6G Requirements
- Possibilities to achieve greater energy savings based on energy consumption levels measured in the two companies’ respective base stations
- Technical analysis of candidate energy-saving technologies, including both hardware and software
- The roles that operators and equipment vendors should play, including the need for greater coordination, in the effort to achieve greater energy savings
For 6G, the paper reviews requirements and challenges including specific performance levels and implementation scenarios, focusing on technical issues of particular importance to mobile operators:
- Performance requirements and implementation scenarios for each frequency band, taking into account the characteristics of each frequency
- Issues concerning coverage and devices in high-frequency bands
- Standardization for migration to 6G architecture and application of cloud-native / open architecture
Going forward, NTT DOCOMO and SKT will continue to collaborate in various technical fields, aiming to enhance the competitiveness and operational efficiency of 5G as well as support the global standardization and technical verification of 6G. They will also collaborate with global telecom operators on 6G standardization and R&D with the goal of building a global ecosystem that encompasses advanced industries and technologies.
“The white papers carry a significant meaning as they mark the first tangible result since entering into a strategic partnership with NTT DOCOMO last year,” said Yu Takki, Vice President and Head of Infra Tech Office of SKT. “Based on our experience and knowhow in 5G, we will continue to collaborate with world-leading operators such as NTT DOCOMO to lead 5G evolution towards 6G.”
Takehiro Nakamura, Chief Technology Architect, NTT DOCOMO, said: “We are delighted to jointly announce two white papers on green mobile networks and 6G requirements as our collaborative achievements with SKT started in November 2022. We will continue to enhance cooperation among the two major Asian mobile operators and promote superior concepts and innovative technologies to the world for the 6G deployment.”
Development of “IMT Vision for 2030 and beyond” from ITU-R WP 5D
Introduction:
No organization, standards or spec writing body have detailed anything real related to “6G.” All the 6G claims from telecom equipment vendors and network operators are pure propaganda/hype. There is no consensus of what 6G will be, nor is there any effort to standardize “5G Advanced.” Hence, there is no basis whatsoever to talk about standardized 5G Advanced or 6G anytime soon.
Yes, we know 3GPP is working on Release 18 which will have many new features and functions, but their Release 16 (frozen one year ago) is not complete– at least not for the URLLC 5G NR specification and performance testing. Don’t talk about “5G Advanced” or “6G” if the key use case (URLLC) for 5G is not complete. Nor is the implementation specified for “5G core” or 5G advanced functions, e.g. network slicing, as we’ve stated many, many times.
This article examines what’s real: the important ongoing work by ITU-R (the official standards body for cellular communications and frequencies) on the vision, goals and objectives for what may become 6G. Or maybe not?
ITU-R WP 5D Efforts on IMT Vision for 2030 (which will include “6G”):
ITU-R Working Party 5D (WP 5D) has started to develop a new draft Recommendation “IMT Vision for 2030 and beyond” at their March 2021 meeting. This Recommendation might be helpful to drive the industries and administrations to encourage further development of IMT for 2030 and beyond.
This Recommendation will define the framework and overall objectives of the future development of IMT for 2030 and beyond, including the role that IMT could play to better serve the needs of the future society, for both developed and developing countries.
For the development of this draft new Recommendation, WP 5D would like to invite the views of External Organizations on the IMT Vision for 2030 and beyond, including but not limited to, user and application trends, evolution of IMT, usage scenario, capabilities and framework and objectives.
WP 5D will also develop a new draft Report ITU-R M.[IMT.FUTURE TECHNOLOGY TRENDS] which focuses on the following aspects:
“This Report provides a broad view of future technical aspects of terrestrial IMT systems considering the time frame up to 2030 and beyond. It includes information on technical and operational characteristics of terrestrial IMT systems, including the evolution of IMT through advances in technology and spectrally-efficient techniques, and their deployment.”
For the development of these reports, WP 5D invites the views of External Organizations on future technology trends for terrestrial IMT systems, including but not limited to the motivation on driving factors such as new use cases, applications, capabilities, technology trends and enablers. These technical inputs are intended for the timeframe towards 2030 and beyond and are proposed to be significantly advanced and different from that of IMT-2020.
Related documents: ITU Recommendations, Reports, Documents and Handbook:
Recommendation ITU-R M.1645 – Framework and overall objectives of the future development of IMT‑2000 and systems beyond IMT‑2000
Recommendation ITU-R M.2083 – IMT Vision – “Framework and overall objectives of the future development of IMT for 2020 and beyond”
Recommendation ITU-R M.1457 – Detailed specifications of the terrestrial radio interfaces of International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 (IMT-2000)
Recommendation ITU-R M.2012 – Detailed specifications of the terrestrial radio interfaces of International Mobile Telecommunications Advanced (IMT-Advanced)
Recommendation ITU-R M.2150 – Detailed specifications of the terrestrial radio interfaces of International Mobile Telecommunications-2020 (IMT-2020)
Report ITU-R M.2243 – Assessment of the global mobile broadband deployments and forecasts for International Mobile Telecommunications
Report ITU-R M.2320 – Future technology trends of terrestrial IMT systems
Report ITU-R M.2370 – IMT Traffic estimates for the years 2020 to 2030
Report ITU-R M.2376 – Technical feasibility of IMT in bands above 6 GHz
Report ITU-R M.2134 – Requirements related to technical performance for IMT‑Advanced radio interface(s)
Report ITU-R M.2410 – Minimum requirements related to technical performance for IMT-2020 radio interface(s)
Report ITU-R M.2441 – Emerging usage of the terrestrial component of International Mobile Telecommunication (IMT)
Report ITU-R M.[IMT.FUTURE TECHNOLOGY TRENDS TOWARDS 2030 AND BEYOND] – Future technology trends of terrestrial IMT systems towards 2030 and beyond
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Key objectives of the Vision towards IMT for 2030 and beyond:
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Focus on continued need for increased coverage, increased capacity and extremally high user data rates;
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Focus on continued need for lower latency and both high and low speed of movement of the mobile terminals;
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Fully support the development of a Ubiquitous Intelligent Mobile Society;
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Focus on tackling societal challenges identified in UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular to meet the needs of Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure;
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Consider what the future heterogenous mobile broadband networks can offer to the society and the economy through the applications and services they support;
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Target the changing global scenario on how we work and how we stay safe during the societal challenges such COVID-19 pandemic and global climate changes;
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Focus on delivering on digital inclusion and connecting the rural and remote communities.
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The 4 key pillars for the vision:
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Any future technology should help in the development of a Ubiquitous Intelligent Mobile Connected Society (whatever that means is TBD).
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Any future technology should support technologies that can help bridge the digital divide.
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Any future technology should support technologies that can Personalize / localize services.
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Any future technology should support the connectivity / compute technologies that can address issues of real-world data ownership sensitivities.
Brief text for each of the pillars is as below:
1. Development of a Ubiquitous Intelligent Mobile Connected Society:
It is anticipated that Public / Private / Enterprise networks, specialized networks (application / vertical specific), IOT / sensor networks will increase in numbers in the coming years and could be based on multiple radio access technologies. Interoperability is one of the most significant challenges to enable a ubiquitous intelligent, connected / compute environment, where different networks, processes, applications, use cases and organizations are connected. This includes supporting very high bandwidth requirements applications such as holographic communications, digital twins etc to supporting extremely low bandwidth requirement use cases such as sensors.
2. Support technologies that can bridge the digital divide: It is a very important considerations for any future technology development.
Future networks / technologies should support affordability as a key parameter and to that end support technologies such as:
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Highly composable networks /architectures to address issues of cost and affordability.
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Dynamic Spectrum Sharing technologies which can lower the cost of initial spectrum purchase.
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Heterogeneous device types to bring the cost of affordability down without compromising high end usage scenarios.
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Energy efficiency to enable affordability and sustainability.
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3. Support technologies that can Personalize /localize services.
As home network capabilities, edge device / network capabilities are enhanced, there is an opportunity to personalize services like never before. It’s important that personalization (focused on individuals, homes, apartments small / medium enterprises) services is a key focus area.
4. Support technologies that can mimic real world data ownerships and hierarchies.
Personal data protection is becoming important and as nations are focused on data protection and management it is important that any future network / technology takes into account the intrinsic data hierarchies and management aspects. Data ownership granularity spans from personal data, enterprise or group data, organizational data, data considered as national assets (data that is not allowed to leave the geographic boundaries)
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External Organizations will be invited to contribute to this work item via contributions to future ITU-R WP 5D meetings in 2021 and 2022.
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Source: ITU-R WP 5D
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Addendum from Leo Lehmann, Chairman ITU-T SG13:
ITU-T had run Focus Group Network-2030, which was concluded in July 2020. This Focus Group studied the capabilities of networks for the year 2030 and beyond. Those networks are expected to support novel forward-looking scenarios, such as holographic type communications, extremely fast response in critical situations and high-precision communication demands of emerging market verticals.
It has produced a remarkable “White Paper: “Network 2030 – A Blueprint of Technology, Applications and Market Drivers Towards the Year 2030 and Beyond” (May 2019).”
Even though studies are focusing only on “non-radio-related” aspects, the given use cases might be very important for the further discussion how they might be supported by corresponding spectrum requirements (whatever “G”).
References:
https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/focusgroups/net2030/Pages/default.aspx
https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/focusgroups/net2030/Documents/White_Paper.pdf
ITU-R WP 5D new reports on IMT for PPDR applications, Terrestrial IMT for Cellular-Vehicle-to-Everything, 6G Vision & more
At its March 2021 virtual meeting, ITU-R WP5D completed a revision of the report ITU-R M.2291-1 – The use of International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) for broadband Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR) applications includes the IMT-2020 and 5G aspects in this public safety focused report to update the current report which was only based on IMT-Advanced 3GPP LTE technology. This revision was completed by ITU-R WP 5D and forwarded to Study Group 5 for action when they next meet in November 2021.
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ITU-R M.[IMT.C-V2X] – The use of the terrestrial component of IMT systems for Cellular-Vehicle-to-Everything
WP 5D is also developing a draft new report ITU-R M.[IMT.C-V2X] – The use of the terrestrial component of IMT systems for Cellular-Vehicle-to-Everything is intended to addresses the mutual relationship between IMT technologies and Cellular-Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) as a specific application and elements of functions in IMT technologies that are used to realize C-V2X application.
Further, the report provides details on Overview on Usage of IMT technology, use cases, relationship between IMT and C-V2X, characteristics and capabilities supported by IMT, and case studies associated with C-V2X for the various scenarios including eMBB, mMTC, and URLLC of terrestrial component of IMT.
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Development of draft new report ITU-R M.[IMT.FUTURE TECHNOLOGY TRENDS TOWARDS 2030 AND BEYOND]
The draft new Report ITU-R M.[IMT.FUTURE TECHNOLOGY TRENDS TOWARDS 2030 AND BEYOND] is intended as a precursor to a “beyond IMT-2020” vision document for 6G that ITU-R WP 5D intends to produce in 2022. This trends report will assess where the technology is, and the current uses are for IMT-2020/5G and seek to identify the gaps and technical enablers anticipated to be necessary in the 2030 timeframe.
Furthermore, the expectation is that this Report will energize the academic and technology community to engage in the research and developments necessary to underpin a “beyond IMT-2020 and 6G view) as just focusing on new uses cases is insufficient to build such a future and the technology evolution requires a long lead time to fruition.
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Development of draft new report ITU-R M.[IMT TERRESTRIAL BROADBAND REMOTE COVERAGE]
The draft new Report ITU-R M.[IMT TERRESTRIAL BROADBAND REMOTE COVERAGE] – Terrestrial IMT for remote sparsely populated areas providing high data rate coverage is intended to provide details on scenarios associated with the provisioning of enhanced mobile broadband services to remote sparsely populated and underserved areas with a discussion on enhancements of user and network equipment.
It will distinguish between extending coverage on already deployed network and defining a use/case for deployment environment and is meant to meant to evaluate technical solutions required to extend the coverage of IMT system rather than discussing deployment layout for rural environments. The completion dates have been extended to the 39th WP 5D meeting (October 2021).
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Development of a draft new report ITU-R M.[IMT 2020.TDD.SYNCHRONIZATION]
The draft new report ITU-R [IMT2020.TDD.SYNCHRONIZATION] is intended to address the study of the aspects of synchronization operations of multiple IMT-2020 TDD networks in close proximity using the same frequency band, including analyses of coexistence issues when IMT operators utilize different synchronization modes, performance evaluation under different synchronization modes, and coexistence mitigation strategies.
The Report considers the further impacts of the introduction of technical advancement such as active antenna systems, etc. The completion dates were extended to the 41st WP 5D meeting (June 2022).
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Source: Chairman’s Report 37th e-meeting of Working Party 5D (1-12 March 2021 – Virtual), April 13, 2021
ATIS: Next G Alliance leadership and 6G Roadmap – Is it premature?
The Alliance for Telecom Industry Solutions (ATIS) has announced election results for the Next G Alliance and its Steering Group as well as the launch of work on a 6G Roadmap.
Andre Fuetsch, Executive Vice President & Chief Technology Officer, AT&T, has been named chair of the Next G Alliance executive governing body, the Full Member Group (FMG). Jan Söderström, Ericsson’s Head of Technology Office Silicon Valley, has been named FMG vice chair. Among its many roles, the FMG sets the overall strategy and direction for the Next G Alliance as well as its organizational policies. Both the chair and vice chair serve a two-year term.
Three co-chairs have also been named for the Next G Alliance Steering Group (SG). The SG is composed of technology leaders and experts who will identify key North American R&D needs, standards strategies and market readiness policies to achieve the goals established by the Next G Alliance. The SG co-chairs are: AT&T Assistant Vice President – Standards & Industry Alliances Brian Daly; Head of North American Standardization at Nokia, Devaki Chandramouli; and VMware Director, Edge & AI Ecosystems, Telco Cloud Business Unit, Benoit Pelletier.
Setting the stage for the eventual commercialization of 6G, the work of the Next G Alliance will influence and encompass the full lifecycle of research and development, manufacturing, standardization and market readiness. As an initial priority, a 6G Roadmap Working Group has been launched. The National 6G Roadmap being developed will act as a foundation for future outputs, delivering a common vision and destination point for achieving North American 6G wireless leadership. It will define what is needed in terms of research needs, technology developments, service and application enablers, policies and government actions and market priorities.
In addition to the 6G Roadmap Working Group, the Next G Alliance will simultaneously launch a “Green G” Working Group focused on achieving energy efficiency by reducing power consumption and assessing how to achieve a sustainable ecosystem with emerging technologies. The Working Group will evaluate the environmental impact of a broad range of sources including water and materials consumption as well as the use of renewable or ambient energy.
“While innovation frequently occurs in response to market needs, long-term technology leadership takes strategic foresight and critical stakeholders committed to reaching the desired future state,” said Susan M. Miller, President and CEO, ATIS. “With its leadership set and work on both sustainability and the 6G Roadmap launched, the Next G Alliance is well positioned to create a national vision for the next decade.”
Thus far, the Next G Alliance has united 45 of the leading information and communications companies in a shared commitment to advance the evolution of 5G, chart the future of 6G technology and put North America at the forefront of wireless technology leadership for the next decade and beyond. The membership spans infrastructure, semiconductors and device vendors; operators; hyper-scalers and other organizations, including those in the area of research.
If your company is interested in joining, contact ATIS Membership Director Rich Moran.
Learn more about the Next G Alliance at: https://nextgalliance.org/
About ATIS:
As a leading technology and solutions development organization, the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) brings together the top global ICT companies to advance the industry’s business priorities. ATIS’ 150 member companies are currently working to address 6G, 5G, robocall mitigation, IoT, Smart Cities, artificial intelligence-enabled networks, distributed ledger/blockchain technology, cybersecurity, emergency services, quality of service, billing support, operations, and much more. These priorities follow a fast-track development lifecycle – from design and innovation through standards, specifications, requirements, business use cases, software toolkits, open source solutions, and interoperability testing.
ATIS is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). ATIS is the North American Organizational Partner for the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a founding Partner of the oneM2M global initiative, a member of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), as well as a member of the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL). For more information, visit www.atis.org. Follow ATIS on Twitter and on LinkedIn.
Editorial Comment:
We think it’s very premature to start an INDEPENDENT group to plan the future of 6G networks for North America. That’s because 5G standards and specs are not even close to be finished. The standardization work on 6G hasn’t started in earnest yet. There’s only an ITU-R draft report on “Technology Trends of terrestrial IMT systems towards 2030 and beyond,” which is scheduled to be completed in July 2022.
Regarding 5G standards and specs being incomplete, revision 6 of ITU-R M.1036 recommendation specifying Frequency Arrangements for the terrestrial component of IMT (including 5G/IMT 2020) has not yet been agreed upon yet in ITU-R WP5D. It should include all the WRC 19 recommended frequencies for 5G/IMT 2020, especially mmWave.
Another example is that 3GPP Release 16 URLLC in the RAN [Physical Layer Enhancements for NR Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communication (URLLC)] has not been completed, despite that release being frozen last July.
3GPP Release 16 5G NR-URLLC in the RAN spec status as of as of March 25, 2021:
- RP-191584 5G NR Physical Layer Enhancements for Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communication (URLLC) [UID=830074 and CODE=NR_L1enh_URLLC] was 37% complete. It is scheduled for completion June 12, 2022).
- RP-190726 Performance part: Physical Layer Enhancements for NR Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communication (URLLC) spec was 0% complete and hasn’t been updated since 2019.
- RP-200472 revised NR performance requirement enhancement [UID=840094 CODE=NR_perf_enh] was 0% complete.
URLLC Enhancement of URLLC support in the 5G Core network (UID=830098) is stated to be 90% complete.
Note also that there are no ITU-T recommendations/standards that specify implementation for IMT 2020/5G non radio aspects. All the work is being done in 3GPP and at a reference architecture level that does NOT specify detailed implementation. That applies to 3GPP specs on 5G core network, network slicing, and other highly touted 5G features.
Hence, there will surely be many implementations of 5G “cloud native” core networks, network slicing, virtualization, security, etc
We think any 6G technology aspects and specification work should be done in ITU-R WP5D for the RAN and 3GPP for the RAN and Core network.
References:
https://www.3gpp.org/DynaReport/GanttChart-Level-2.htm#bm830074
U.S. Government on 5G Integrated and Open Networks + ATIS on U.S. 6G Leadership
In a speech he was scheduled to deliver (but didn’t) Thursday at a Global CTO Roundtable on 5G Integrated and Open Networks (ION), U.S. Attorney General William Barr wrote (bold font added):
The United States and our partners are in an urgent race against the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to develop and build 5G infrastructure around the world. Our national security and the flourishing of our liberal democratic values here and around the world depend on our winning it.
Future 5G networks will be a critical piece of global infrastructure, the central nervous system of the global economy. Unfortunately, the PRC is well on its way to seizing a decisive 5G advantage. If the PRC wins the 5G race, the geopolitical, economic, and national security consequences will be staggering. The PRC knows this, which explains why it is using every lever of power to expand its 5G market share around the globe. The community of free and democratic nations must do the same.
To compete and win against the PRC juggernaut, the United States and its partners must work closely with trusted vendors to pursue practical and realistic strategies that can turn the tide now. Although the ‘Open RAN’ approach is not a solution to our immediate problem, the concept of Integrated and Open Networks (ION), which was the topic of yesterday’s roundtable, holds promise and should be explored. We can win the race, but we must act now.
From Mung Chiang of the U.S. Office of Science and Technology Advisor:
With a broad, inclusive tent of what “open” means, a nuanced appreciation of network deployment reality, and a more solid view on architectural choices, ION becomes one of the areas where the United States and partner countries can lead in 5G innovation. We invite technology leaders in the industry to help make that happen. Speed is the key to winning the 5G race.
While technology should not be mistaken as a solution to the fundamental problem of a distorted market, its exploration is still useful. ION and Edge Computing, for example, are two areas of innovation to realize 5G’s promise of a new level of responsiveness and scale. Such innovation leadership, along with the Clean Networks initiative and supply chain security form three prongs in a global strategy for 5G.
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Separately, the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) has issued a call to action to promote U.S. 6G leadership.
“While innovation can be triggered in reaction to current market needs, technology leadership at a national level requires an early commitment and development that addresses U.S. needs as well as a common vision and set of objectives,” said Susan Miller, President and CEO of ATIS, possibly in acknowledgement of the panic the U.S. has got itself into over 5G and of recent developments in China.
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Comment, analysis and assessment:
Mobile standards are global in nature, so talk of regional races seems disingenuous if not counter-productive. It is bad enough that there are six competing IMT 2020 RITs (Radio Interface Technologies) from five different countries/regions being progressed by ITU-R WP5D for IMT 2020.specs with three based on 3GPP 5G NR (Release 15 and 16): China, Korea, India (TSDSI). In addition to 3GPPs RIT/SRIT submissions (from ATIS), there are also the DECT/ETSI IMT 2020 RIT submission based on DECT NR and the Nufront (Chinese company) submission based on their own 5G radio which supposedly supports ultra low latency.
What Attorney General Barr probably means is that he’s worried U.S. 5G networks are going to be second rate compared to the Chinese equivalent from Huawei and ZTE. However, he said that Open RAN is NOT a solution to the U.S.’ current “5G problem.” Barr and Ms Chiang say that ION is a more viable approach (what the *&^%$** is ION?). In particular, “ION becomes one of the areas where the United States and partner countries can lead in 5G innovation.”
Telecoms.com author Scott Bicheno wrote: “Any non-Chinese telecoms company with a few bright ideas would be well advised to stick close to the U.S. government as the public money tap seems to be well and truly open.”
References:
https://www.state.gov/remarks-at-global-chief-technology-officers-roundtable-on-5g-ion/
With no 5G standard (IMT 2020) China is working on 6G!
Consumers can’t buy 5G phones yet. But China is already talking about what comes next: 6G. The concept of 6G is still very much unkown, but experts expect speeds in the range of 1 Tbps. Researchers have already achieved mobile speeds of 1 Tbps during lab trials.
The head of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s (MIIT) 5G technology working group, Su Xin, told local media he also expects 6G to deliver improvements across the same three areas as 5G will deliver – improved bandwidth, low latency and wide connection areas.
Su Xin, head of 5G technology working group at China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that China is starting research into 6G concepts this year. The country first started looking into 6G in March, making it one of the first countries to do so.
Su said that the actual development of 6G will officially begin in 2020, but commercial use will most likely have to wait until 2030.
The arrival of 5G has been touted as a big deal. It’s not just because it promises to bring fast mobile internet, it should also enable us to connect with machines – like gadgets, industrial machines and autonomous vehicles. For those Rip Van Winkle readers, “5G” is the name of the next-generation wireless technology that promises far faster internet access than 4G-LTE. Experts predict it will begin to take off in 2019, well in advance of the IMT 2020 standard from ITU-R. So what is 6G supposed to bring that 5G can’t, especially for ordinary folks?
For one thing, it could make mobile internet speeds of 1 TB per second mainstream. This means you could download around 100 films in less than a second. (It’s worth noting that researchers at the University of Surrey in England have already achieved that with 5G… but only inside a lab.)
Of course, 2030 is a long way away, so the actual applications of this technology may be hard to imagine. As Verizon executive Andrea Caldini pointed out at this year’s Mobile World Congress, nobody expected Snapchat while developing 4G – it’s the increased speeds that made it happen.
According to Su, 6G could connect our devices more efficiently than 5G, expanding internet coverage to much wider areas.
“5G has three application scenarios: large bandwidth, low latency, and wide connection – I think 6G can achieve better application in all three scenarios,” Su told local media, noting that 6G could increase transmission rates by more than 10 times. “It may revolutionize the structure of the whole wired and wireless network.”
If this sounds vague to you, it’s because there is still no definition for the technology. And according to industry insiders, it is too early to talk about 6G. It took 5G ten years to develop its set of standards, and despite commercial deployment this year, they are still not fully settled. So is 6G even a thing?
Roberto Saracco, professor at the University of Trento in Italy, believes that 5G is still a fuzzy set of promises that will take time, probably ten years, before being fulfilled. As for the next generation of connectivity, “marketing will need 6G as soon as 5G is deployed,” writes Saracco. Researchers will need a term to mark the novelty of what they are doing or to put technologies that do not fit into 5G standards into another box.
The vagueness of the term has not stopped countries to start looking into the concept. Finland’s University of Oulu launched an 6G research program called 6Genesis. Aside from futuristic phrases like “interoperability sensing based ops” and “intelligent personal edge,” one of the applications mentioned on their site is wireless augmented reality/virtual reality.
It’s worth noting that this might be an application for 5G, judging by Tencent boss Pony Ma’s suggestion that the technology could enable WeChat VR.
The new 6G movement in China could also be a way to rub their tech advancement in other people’s faces. The country is already way ahead of US in deploying 5G, according to Deloitte. Since 2015, China outspent the US by approximately $24 billion in wireless communications infrastructure (with $400 billion more coming) and built 350,000 new cell phone tower sites – while the US is still stuck at less than 30,000.
