The Global System for Mobile telecommunications Association (GSMA) has rallied the telecom industry on the need to complete and expand 5G before racing for 6G.
GSMA Director General, Vivek Badrinath, who called for this, insisted that before the mobile industry races ahead with 6G, operators need to finish the upgrade to standalone (SA) 5G to open up new growth opportunities.
Badrinath noted as the sector discovers 5G’s full potential, one question remains: “How can we drive growth?”He argued before looking too far ahead: “We must stay focused on the opportunity that’s right in front of us. The potential of 5G is there,” delivering faster speeds, ultra-low latency and enhanced network slicing capabilities.
“SA 5G allows us to make the whole network configurable and programmable,” he stated.GSMA noted that in the mainland, China Mobile last year launched the world’s first commercial 5G-Advanced network, which now reaches more than 300 cities.
“We must take this proven capability and make it accessible everywhere,” he noted.
The DG stated more AI creates more demand on networks and the need for more 5G. “Our networks are not just using AI, they are enabling it. Without advanced connectivity, there is no AI.”
China already positioned itself as the global leader in 5G, and when it comes to AI, it plans to replicate this success, he noted.
China Unicom’s smart connection offering has helped a steel plant in Hebei increase efficiency by 18 per cent, using AI algorithms to predict equipment failures, while China Telecom is using AI to empower vertical industries, through customised private 5G networks.
Turning to the growing interest in the GSMA Open Gateway API initiative, he explained opening up networks unlocks new market opportunities for operators and drives innovation across sectors.
Some 73 mobile operator groups representing almost 80 per cent of global connections have joined, including all operators in China. Checks by The Guardian showed that in Nigeria, 5G, which is in its third year, has 2.81 per cent market reach in the country with some four million of the 172 million active telephone users on the network. Licensees including MTN, Mafab Communications and Airtel paid about $864 million for the licenses in the country.
MEANWHILE, T-Mobile US president of technology, Ulf Ewaldsson, expressed confidence 6G would mark the end of passive mobile networks, boost slicing capabilities and herald a new era of customer experience.
During a keynote, the executive backed the upcoming generation to super-power networks, improving capacity, coverage, security, performance and energy efficiency, but emphasised the need for customer centricity to be at the heart of it.
He predicted networks in 2030 would “no longer wait for prompts, they will take action and do things based on intent before you even know yourself what you want to do.”
“We are in the midst of the 5G era. By the end of the decade, we will have 6G and will have maybe 100-times more data usage, lower than a millisecond latency and perhaps 500 million connected devices globally” he noted, estimating it could create $10 trillion in economic value over its lifespan.
