6G Global Summit, Live from LondonMark Henry, BT Group Director of Network Strategy and SpectrumPhoto on the left) lamented the race to roll out 5G and questioned the investment case for 6G in a session where the Republic of Ireland regulator accused vendors of overpromising about the new technology.
Speaking at a panel session, Henry said non-standalone 5G was a “mistake” and essentially “delayed” the arrival of fully standalone by five years.
“That was a bad deal and they should never do that again.”
But he added that non-standalone 5G was still a success.
“The business case for 5G is that it’s the most efficient way to deliver data capacity,” he said. “That promise has been delivered.” But experts noted that the investment case for 6G is “much harder than previous generations.”
Henry said the rate of data growth is expected to slow as new applications are introduced, so “we don’t want to incur the cost of deploying new physical infrastructure and the potential problems that come with deploying yet another new technology.”
“What will hit the business case is getting millions of users on board the new system, which used to happen relatively quickly but now devices are being retained by users for four years, and even longer over time.”
On a more positive note, Henry noted that 6G could improve spectrum efficiency and bring sustainability benefits as well.
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In the second half of the panel, Robert Moorick, Chairman of ComReg Ireland,Photo on the right) criticized vendors’ misleading advertising for new network technology and urged the industry to avoid a repeat of the same with 6G.
“I was hoping that some of the lessons of the previous generation had been learned,” he said. “There’s always going to be a big gap between what technology actually does and what it’s advertised to deliver.”
“5G might make a good business case because data will be cheaper, but that’s not how 5G was sold,” Murik added. “I remember vendors coming to us, first inventing the technology, then bringing in economic consultants to explain how much this technology is worth, so countries have to invest in this.”
He noted that agencies such as the European Commission have set deployment targets based on these expectations.
“Looking to the future, I think we need to be realistic about what it brings,” he concluded.
