6G sets its sights on stronger business cases and collaboration to realise its full potential

By Marc Ambasna-Jones 12 Mar 25 Reading time: 5 mins

The first commercial deployments of 6G are expected around 2030, but if recent discussions at MWC (Mobile World Congress) 2025 in Barcelona made one thing clear, it’s that the industry cannot afford to wait to address some fundamental challenges. Chief among them is ensuring that 6G has a well-defined business case from the outset, rather than playing catch-up as many operators have with 5G. Equally critical is fostering a stronger culture of collaboration, not just within the telecoms sector but across industries, academia, and policymakers, to ensure that 6G delivers meaningful impact beyond incremental network improvements.

It’s a position few would argue against and one that has been increasingly part of the 6G dialogue over the past 12 months. In January this year, the Wireless Broadband Alliance said as much with its 6G vision, much of which focused on the need for greater industry collaboration and commercialisation. India too is getting in on the act, claiming it wants to be a world leader in 6G (who doesn’t?) with India’s Minister of Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia using MWC to announce the Bharat 6G Alliance (with the UK, US, South Korea, Japan, Germany, Finland, and Brazil), which has a big focus on collaboration across borders, industries, and institutions.

During a panel hosted by Ericsson at MWC, entitled 6G: Are we ambitious enough? (featuring industry leaders from Ericsson, T-Mobile, Nokia, NTT Docomo, Meta, Accedo, and the University of Bristol) the focus was on establishing priorities and identifying the key components of 6G “that will deliver value to users, transform societies, and accelerate industry growth.”

For Dimitra Simeonidou, director at Smart Internet Lab at the University of Bristol, there is still a lot of work to do. “Academia and industry are aligning on key performance requirements, applications, and energy efficiency goals, but there is still a gap in priorities,” she said. “While the industry is focused on commercial deployment, research institutions are exploring the next frontier of wireless paradigms, which could redefine the long-term vision for 6G.”

There is almost certainly a need for balance between innovation and commercialisation, but what the panel was clear about was that 6G cannot simply be an incremental upgrade to 5G. As Simeonidou added, “We need to rethink wireless networks at a fundamental level, integrating AI, quantum security, and spectrum innovation, so that these advancements move beyond research and into deployment.” This requires closer collaboration between telecom companies, technology firms, and research institutions to accelerate the transition from theoretical breakthroughs to commercial viability.

Karri Kuoppamaki, vice president of technology development and strategy for T-Mobile USA, emphasised the importance of learning from 5G’s complexities to avoid unnecessary fragmentation. The goal should be simplification, ensuring that 6G is designed for standalone deployment from day one and does not require multiple iterations to reach maturity.

“We must avoid the mistakes of 5G, where excessive optionality led to fragmentation,” said Kuoppamaki. “6G should be designed with a more streamlined architecture to reduce unnecessary complexity.”

Moreover, a key lesson from 5G’s rollout is the disconnect between technology and monetisation. While 5G introduced network slicing, ultra-low latency, and private networks, many operators have struggled to translate these capabilities into sustainable revenue streams. The concern is that without a more structured approach, 6G could face the same fate.

Beyond connectivity: 6G as a platform for transformation

The panel conversation also underscored the need for 6G to extend beyond faster speeds and lower latency. Takehiro Nakamura, a director at NTT, and Ulrich Dropmann, head of standardisation and industry environment at Nokia, pointed to AI-driven automation, network sensing, and human augmentation as critical innovations that will define 6G. These technologies could enable real-time digital twins, advanced XR applications, and even brain-computer interfaces, fundamentally shifting how people and machines interact.

For Meta’s engineering lead Ji Zhu and Accedo’s business development director for emerging technologies Lucy Trang Nguyen, 6G must be built with immersive media and AI-powered experiences in mind. The transition from mobile screens to XR-based interaction will place new demands on network capabilities, requiring ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) and intelligent workload distribution between devices and the cloud.

“The metaverse and spatial computing will drive the next wave of human-computer interaction,” said Zhu. “And 6G must provide seamless, high-fidelity XR experiences that integrate real and virtual worlds without lag or disruption.”

One of the major technical hurdles discussed was spectrum availability. According to the panel, the challenge is twofold – ensuring that 6G can be deployed on existing infrastructure, while also securing sufficient mid-band spectrum to support new capabilities. Panellists agreed that regulatory alignment and early industry-wide standardisation efforts are crucial to preventing fragmentation across different markets.

Another theme was energy efficiency and sustainability. With telcos under pressure to reduce their carbon footprints, 6G must be inherently designed for lower power consumption while maintaining high performance.

Industry collaboration: breaking down silos

Perhaps the strongest consensus from the panel was the need for a more collaborative approach to 6G development. Kuoppamaki noted that 6G cannot be a telecom-only initiative. The future network must support enterprise applications across sectors such as healthcare, industrial automation, and smart cities, meaning stronger engagement with policymakers, cloud providers, and vertical industries will be required from the outset.

Unlike previous generations, where telecoms largely dictated the pace of innovation, 6G will demand closer alignment with AI research labs, cloud hyperscalers, and enterprise technology providers. As Nakamura put it: “To realise 6G’s full potential, we need to create an ecosystem where telecoms, enterprises, and governments co-invest in innovation, rather than waiting for a single sector to take the lead.”

While the panellists agreed that 6G’s ambitions are clear, they also acknowledged that realising them will be challenging. 5G is still evolving, and many of the use cases envisioned for it – such as XR, industrial automation, and AI-powered services – have yet to reach full adoption. This raises a fundamental question: how can 6G be designed to avoid the slow adoption curve that 5G has faced?

There is also the issue of geopolitics and market fragmentation. Unlike previous generations, which saw strong global alignment, increasing competition and regulatory divergence between regions could make it harder to maintain a unified approach to 6G. However, the panellists remained optimistic that industry-wide collaboration can prevent excessive divergence and ultimately help avoid the growing pains widely experienced with 5G.

Marc Ambasna-Jones / Editor-in-chief

Working as a technology journalist and writer since 1989, Marc has written for a wide range of titles on technology, business, education, politics and sustainability, with work appearing in The Guardian, The Register, New Statesman, Computer Weekly and many more.