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“There is a high degree of trust
that 3GPP will deliver the
standards that are needed and

will deliver them on time.”

the Public Safety community approached 3GPP around 2012 That said, there is significant 6G work being done within
requesting significant changes to be made to the standard. the research community and early standardization
The public safety community organised themselves, engaged studies commencing. Indeed, ETSI has already created
fully and dedicated considerable time and effort for their two Industry Specification Groups, one focusing on
needs to be included in 3GPP standards. This resulted in Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces and the other on TeraHertz
mission critical features now being an inherent part of the communications, both of which are expected to become 6G
3GPP portfolio and the basis on which first responder services building blocks.
are being modernised globally.
Highlights: Are there any potential road
Some of the later use cases – including V2X, Railways, factory blocks that could delay or change plans for
automation and Industry 4.0 – have benefitted from the 6G?
lessons learnt on all sides when bringing mission critical into
the groups. We learned from 5G that market conditions can change rather
Highlights: How do you see future networks quickly. We saw an early first phase of 5G specifications - which
placed stress on our committees and on the quality of the
evolving to deal with new, more demanding, resulting specifications.
use cases?
We are also going through a time of considerable change. In
There are two major developments which I believe will play this post pandemic environment our meetings are still largely
a role in shaping our future. Until recently, it was widely being conducted as virtual meetings and it is not clear when
assumed that telecommunications services would be delivered face-to-face meetings will again become the norm. Indeed,
by public mobile operators. 5G specifications however with rising travel costs and our members having carbon
describe how such services may be delivered using a private neutral targets that they must meet we may never return to
network arrangement. When considering how demanding a full calendar of face-to-face meetings. We need to adapt to
industrial user needs can be satisfied there is now the choice these changing conditions and this may mean adjusting our
of public network operators providing a guaranteed level of expectations accordingly.
service through a network “slice” or by developing a dedicated
private network to deliver that service. Highlights: But you are optimistic about the
future of the project?
The other gamechanger I see is the increasing interest in using
non-terrestrial networks to satisfy user needs. Non-terrestrial Absolutely, yes. 3GPP is a very impressive talent pool with
networks are not new to 3GPP, but the intention of integrating members providing their very best staff to participate in
non-terrestrial components within our 5G architectural standards writing. There is a high degree of trust that 3GPP
design will pave the way for seamless connectivity and offer will deliver the standards that are needed and will deliver
significant benefits both in terms of coverage and capacity. them on time. The evolving membership has broadened
our capability to meet the demands from diverse user
Highlights: How will 3GPP be able to manage communities and we are now compelled to succeed.
where 5G ends and future 6G work begins?
No decisions have yet been made about when 6G work will
start and this is a prudent position to take if we are to avoid the
risk of raising expectations which will be hard to meet.
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