ATIS VP on 6G: “This is an area where North America can win”
DENVER–As part of the Big 5G Event, the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions is hosting a 6G Summit to examine various aspects of what comes after 5G, despite the next generation of cellular being completely undefined from a technical perspective. ATIS formed the Next G Alliance in October with the stated goal — stated in the first paragraph of the launch press release — of “advac[ing] North American mobile technology leadership in 6G and beyond over the next decade.”
Set aside institutional knowledge around GSM vs. CDMA and the ensuing expensive debacle that was to degrees rectified through the global development of unified LTE and 5G New Radio standards. At least they’re being upfront about it: We’re not entirely sure what 6G will be other than more and faster, we don’t know what use cases will necessitate it, but we do know we “need a model for success that works in this region” based on North American “values and societal drivers. The model we’re working with is regional.” So says Mike Nawrocki, ATIS vice president of technology and solutions.
Next G Alliance is organized into technical working groups focused on roadmap, technology, applications, societal/economic needs, and sustainability. In Nawrocki’s talk, the focus was very much on the roadmap bit which ideally, from his perspective, ends with North America winning. As you wait for Godot to show up, please recall the “race to 5G” talking points that dominated industry discussions up until they didn’t at all.
After Nawrocki’s talk wrapped about 10 minutes early, he was joined by US Cellular EVP and CTO Mike Irizarry for a session titled, “What is 6G and why do we need it?” Irizarry called out the need to connect more devices and better address the digital divide, messaging aligned directly with some of the goals associated with 5G.
Irizarry commented that 6G will need baked-in automation and orchestration capabilities that make the complex simple for operators to manage and for users to, well, use. He said that he’s currently managing 5G, LTE, CDMA and other access technologies. “That’s not going to work when we move on to 6G.”
The US Cellular exec also said, “I think there’s a risk there could be some technology fragmentation. I think we need to come together to make sure we have a global standard.” Asked by Nawrocki about mapping 6G to North American “societal values,” Irizarry called out the growing carbon footprint of the ICT sector and said, “I think 6G is going to focus way more intensely than previous generations on sustainability.” A review of the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals–represented by those circular, colorful lapel pins you may recall high-powered executives sporting on the Mobile World Congress show floor–would suggest this ambition isn’t uniquely North American but pressing and global, arguably impacting developing countries much more acutely. But so long as North America can maintain a zero-sum mentality and win whatever 6G turns out to be, presumably that looks like success to ATIS.
