LIVE FROM MWL UNWRAPPED: Anita Doehler, CEO of the NGMN Alliance (pictured), insisted 6G would not be developed just for the sake of introducing another generation of mobile technology, and instead have distinct focus on addressing key industry pain points including the prominent digital divide issue.
In the second keynote on day three, Doehler said the mobile organisation had begun to work on 6G in 2020, alongside a drive to fully implement 5G, pointing out its early vision was to ensure the technology addreses growing societal and environmental needs.
On societal, Doehler said 6G had to be an affordable service to “connect the unconnected” and provide a seamless service.
To do this, she insisted that collaboration in the early stages was vital, with research institutes, operators and vendors all tasked with finding ways to ensure “efficient development, not only with regards to energy efficiency but also with regards to cost efficiency”.
She, however, added a competitive environment had to be maintained to ensure monetisation on the investment made by the industry, while working to keep costs low.
Internet of behaviours
During the interview, Doehler added it was important 6G differed from 5G, but hinted that it would be difficult to predict exactly what the next network technology would look like until 5G had truly evolved.
She suggested machine communication in particular would be a thriving use case.
“This will not be about robots and machines talking to each other, but also enhancing communications between humans and robots.”
Such a use case would advance the “internet of behaviours”, concept, added Doehler, a current area of R&D.
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