Alliance 6G vision urges industry collaboration for ubiquitous connectivity
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The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) has released an introductory report on 6G’s potential role titled, “6G – WBA Vision Statement.” The statement calls for greater collaboration between all stakeholders if 6G is to deliver on its promise, and details five key vision points for 6G, to achieve ubiquitous connectivity that comprises Wi-Fi, cellular, non-terrestrial networks, IoT LPWANs, and other wireless technologies at its core.
Wi-Fi and cellular are the two most adopted wireless broadband technologies in the world, available in billions of devices and used daily by billions of users all around the world. To date, both technologies have been evolving from the standards point of view, on independent paths, resulting in separate technical standards, architectures, and industry ecosystems.
While the cellular standards organisations have made efforts to integrate these systems and positive progress has been made, with converged solutions like Wi-Fi Calling or SIM-based Wi-Fi authentication, broader real-world adoption and implementation have lagged for reasons including the need to harmonise fragmented user experiences, complexity of non-3GPP access methods, costs related to implementation complexity and the need to learn from previous cellular generations.
WBA Vision for 6G
- Ubiquitous connectivity for all: Advocate for a wireless ecosystem where wireless networks collaborate rather than compete. This environment ensures uninterrupted experiences for users, regardless of environment, urban, rural or indoors.
- Practical solutions for industry challenges: 6G should prioritise resolving industry pain points such as fragmented user experiences, costly network implementations and inconsistent coverage. Realistic, scalable models that use Wi-Fi, cellular and other wireless technologies, to address these issues effectively.
- Cost and operational efficiency: Operators must balance increasing data demands with operational/energy efficiency to ensure sustainability. Wi-Fi’s cost-effectiveness can complement 6G to reduce CAPEX, operational costs and network densification, particularly indoors.
- Targeted applications for impact: Unlike 5G’s broad focus, 6G should concentrate on practical verticals like healthcare, smart cities and industrial automation. These areas benefit most from reliable, low-latency, and seamless connectivity.
- Global collaboration and standardisation: Importance of industry-wide collaboration, aligning Wi-Fi, cellular, among other technologies advancements through standards bodies like 3GPP, GSMA, IEEE, IETF, WBA and the Wi-Fi Alliance to avoid fragmentation and ensure interoperability.
Recommendations to address industry fragmentation
In addition to outlining its vision for 6G across the industry, the WBA is making three recommendations which it believes will help address fragmentation in the industry and contribute to successful outcomes for 6G:
- Balance between service requirements and technology-driven solutions: A key consideration is whether 6G benefits from a customer-led approach rather than technology-led convergence efforts. While equipment manufacturers, both cellular and Wi-Fi vendors, drive many innovations in their respective technologies, operators may be better positioned to take a holistic, technology-agnostic view of customer needs and their own challenges. Operators can bring balance to the ecosystem by ensuring that solutions are designed with customer challenges and real-world use cases in mind, avoiding a technology-driven approach that may overlook cross-network requirements. The ecosystem needs a balanced approach where operators lead in defining end-user requirements while vendors contribute with specialised technology.
- Role of the Wi-Fi in IMT-2030 and 6G development: Industry alignment will be critical in the 6G standards process by ensuring that convergence, particularly involving relevant access technologies like Wi-Fi, plays a key role in how 6G meets customer needs. This includes promoting multi-stakeholder engagement to align technical specifications with real-world user needs and ensuring that 6G development focuses on interoperability between access technologies.
- Supporting innovation labs for 6G: Industry should support the creation of an “Innovation Lab” for 6G convergence to foster real-world convergence use cases, such as Access Traffic Steering, Switching and Splitting (ATSSS), and support vendor Proof of Concept (PoC) and prototype development. The objective of these labs would be to validate vendor innovations and produce viable industry solutions that address fragmentation, benefiting both operators and end customers. These efforts will ensure vendors across Wi-Fi, cellular, and other networks can prototype solutions that work together.
Tiago Rodrigues, the CEO of the Wireless Broadband Alliance, said: “Collaboration between cellular, Wi-Fi and other wireless technologies stakeholders, including operators, vendors and vertical industry players, is crucial for the success of 6G. By centering its vision on densification, capacity, efficiency and collaboration, the WBA aims to make 6G not just a technological leap but a practical solution for global connectivity challenges.”
Actionable steps
The WBA will be promoting several actionable steps to drive broad industry alignment, which it believes will ensure the 6G opportunity resonates beyond the technical community, appealing to policymakers, businesses, and end-users alike:
- Advocate for simplified, cross-network policies that focus on the end user experience.
- Develop frameworks for seamless identity management and access steering.
- Promote affordable and scalable solutions like Federated Roaming (e.g. OpenRoaming) and neutral host models for network densification.
- Use AI to optimise network selection and reduce operational overhead.
- Establish innovation labs for real-world testing and vendor collaboration.
The 6G – WBA Vision Statement was prepared with the input and support of the following WBA member organisations: AT&T, Airties, Boingo Wireless, Boldyn Networks, BT, Charter, Cisco, Comcast, HFCL, Intel, Reliance Jio, Telekom Deutschland and Turk Telekom.
JR Wilson, the vice president of tower strategy and roaming at AT&T, and WBA chairman, said: “Our customers will measure the success of 6G by how well it meets their needs in the real world. At AT&T our focus is implementing solutions that best serve customers, with the right technology and user experience for every consumer and business use case, underpinned by our ability to support them operationally. The WBA 6G Vision Paper, highlights how important it is to meet those needs regardless of the technology concerned.”
Maria Cuevas Ramirez, the board director of WBA and network infrastructure research director at BT, said: “It is important that the 6G era brings together cellular, Wi-Fi, and non-terrestrial access in a more seamless fashion, to create a “network of networks” that delivers a great experience for customers. Collaboration will be critical to achieving this and we’re pleased to support the WBA Vision Statement for 6G which aims to identify and propose key enhancements to enable the industry to deliver on this ambition.”
Dr. Mehmet Ozdem, the director of network design and service management, Turk Telekom, added: “The convergence of 6G and Wi-Fi will enable interoperability between different communication protocols and architectures, creating a more efficient and user-centric ecosystem. This convergence will play a strategic role for operators by accelerating digital transformation. WBA will provide guidance and leadership in this area through its work with technology stakeholders and industry leaders.”
Download the “6G – WBA Vision Statement” for full details of the WBA’s vision, view on industry challenges, recommendations, and an analysis of multi-access and agnostic services.
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