en.Wedoany.com Reported - The operator-led Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) Alliance has released two reports urging the telecom industry to learn from 5G migration experiences and prioritize simplifying 6G standardization to prevent complexity and market confusion, while providing a smooth and cost-effective migration path. The reports state that 6G requires a different standardization approach, which establishes Multi-RAT Spectrum Sharing (MRSS) as a baseline solution.
The two reports are titled "6G Architecture and Migration Options: An Operator Perspective" and "6G Deployment Timeline Considerations: An Operator Perspective." The former evaluates various options for 6G Radio Access Network (RAN) and core network architecture and migration, aiming to identify the most suitable choices as early as possible, reduce fragmentation and long-term complexity among user equipment, RAN, and core networks, and focus on smooth and scalable deployment. The report also urges operators to conduct further research on the practical performance and implementation feasibility of MRSS.
These reports are released ahead of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) decisions on Release 21, which marks the first published 6G specification. In the latter report, NGMN emphasizes the need to prioritize simpler, better initial standards to unlock the full potential of 6G. The alliance explicitly states that "it is crucial to avoid blurring the value proposition for customers and minimize migration complexity for operators," which is seen as a response to the marketing hype surrounding the launch of 5G, and proposes that the industry should complete "high-quality specifications" before commercially introducing any standardized 6G features.
The statement claims that achieving large-scale deployment requires a fully mature ecosystem, encompassing network infrastructure and a broad base of compatible devices. Laurent Leboucher, Chairman of the NGMN Alliance Board and Group Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of Networks at Orange, stated that the transition to 6G will bring significant opportunities, provided the industry prioritizes migration paths that build on existing network assets, minimize operational complexity, and deliver tangible benefits from the earliest deployment stages. He emphasized that investing sufficient time in this process is crucial, otherwise there is a risk of introducing unnecessary complexity and long-term challenges that limit value for operators and end users.
Greg McCall, Chief Network Officer at BT and NGMN Board Member, added that beyond early assessment of migration options, decisions around architecture should be aligned with realistic cost assessments of hardware reuse and support a scalable multi-vendor ecosystem. Migration and architecture solutions should support interoperability, cloud-based deployment, and long-term operational efficiency.
Liu Guangyi, Chief Expert at China Mobile and NGMN Board Member, also emphasized the importance of limited migration options if lessons are to be learned from 5G regarding barriers to time-to-market. NGMN CEO Anita Döhler stated that 6G is one of NGMN's strategic core areas, and this year and next will be critical for paving the way, with today's decisions on standardization and migration impacting its long-term commercial success.
NGMN's call to action resonates with a report from industry analysis firm Dell'Oro Group. Recently, Dell'Oro released a report titled "6G RAN: Known and Unknown," discussing many of the same issues. This call for a simpler migration and evolutionary deployment path for 6G serves as a stark reminder of what was lost between the design intent of 4G/LTE and the actual rollout of 5G.
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