6G Blueprint: Strategy for taking the lead in developing standards for the technology

India has seen one of the fastest 5G deployments in the world. We had earlier contributed to the global 5G standards through the Telecommunications Standards Development Society, India (TSDSI), the country’s telecom standards development organisation, by introducing the low mobility large cell concept and the indigenously developed 5Gi standard.

TSDSI is now spearheading the development of 6G standards. This article discusses how experiences from 5G deployments, end user needs, operator concerns and emerging technology trends can be leveraged to shape India’s strategy for taking the lead in developing 6G standards.

India has embarked on a rapid 5G deployment, one of the fastest in the world, the cost of which is expected to cross roughly $50 billion, one of the highest in the world. However, the monetisation of this 5G investment remains a significant challenge across the world and India is not an exception. Current tariffs offer data plans that do not distinguish LTE from 5G.

The initial expectation was that much of this revenue growth from 5G would come from the enterprise segment, using network slicing in private 5G deployments. However, this has yet to take off for various reasons, such as issues in spectrum availability, the demands of data localisation in enterprises (“my data in my premises”) and the availability of device modems at affordable price points.

The key challenge for  “my data in my premises” for private 5G deployments is that enterprises are reluctant to allow their data to move into an operator’s network. This is something that 5G has not been able to address, although some solutions for data breakout are in the process of being standardised now (2024/2025). Wi-Fi and wired solutions are still popular due to the ease of integration with the enterprise IT networks, ease of network maintenance and lower device costs.

Current 5G deployments in India are facing optimisation issues as well, such as coverage, interference (from what’s termed as tropospheric ducting and other multiple-input multiple-output [MIMO]-related issues) and voice quality. These add to the learnings from such a large-scale 5G deployment, and this learning will play a key part in Indian contributions to 6G standardisation.

5G was also expected to deliver high quality augmented reality/virtual reality experiences through high bandwidth and low latency but this has not necessarily taken off either. High data consumption is typically indoors (or in moving vehicles), where 5G coverage is currently a concern.

Regardless of the use cases promised for 5G or 6G, fundamental needs such as proper coverage and availability of good signal quality will be key to their success. A key learning from the Indian 5G deployment experience is that “connectivity is still the king”.

In addition to the key learnings, the fundamental requirements for 6G are very clear from an Indian perspective. These include selection of the right waveforms; enhancements in MIMO technology (current MIMO beamforming efficiencies are sub-optimal); and a flexible, composable network architecture that can support 6G. Additionally the development of low-cost solutions such as reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS), which aid in “signal shaping” in certain deployments to improve performance with regard to coverage and signal strength, is essential.

TSDSI recently developed a standard on RIS which has the potential to address coverage and signal strength issues, with the motivation to use the same for current 5G deployments. The same will be optimised for 6G as well, as the 6G architecture evolves. It should be noted that TSDSI is well focused on 6G activities, with active contributions to the development of 6G use cases and requirements under the International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Working Party (ITU-R WP5D), which is responsible for international mobile telecommunication.

TSDSI is also working on enabling principles to digitise  key sectors of the Indian economy, such as agricultural technology, rural marketplace, transportation and manufacturing.

ITU-R WP5D has already published a report on “Future Technology Trends” and recommendations on “Framework and Overall Objectives of the Future Development of IMT for 2030 and Beyond”. As a next step, ITU-R is currently working to define technical performance requirements for 6G. These documents will provide guidance for the development of 6G standards.

Pre-6G standards discussions are underway across the globe in forums such as HEXA-X (European Union), NEXT G Alliance (USA) and 6GIG (an industry forum). In India, TSDSI is the torchbearer for the development of 6G standards.

So far, much of the 6G pre-standards discussions have focused on not only  new radio technologies but also on incorporating other aspects to connect people and things, intelligence across the board, enhanced communication capabilities, artificial intelligence (AI) and sensing. The focus on green technologies is on expected lines.

However, these deliberations seem to be focused more on the overall optimisation aspects. The end-user perspective and operators’ concerns around monetisation and tapping into the enterprise segment are not receiving enough attention.

The discussions around AI are primarily focused on optimising networks. It may  take some more time to bring out the offerings for end-users (both business-to-consumer [B2C] and business-to-business [B2B]). It is expected that 6G will introduce new air interfaces, with one of the objectives being enhancement of  spectral efficiency over the existing 5G technology.

In most of the 6G pre-standards discussions, an end-user focus seems to be missing. The concerns of 6G end-users (covering both B2C and B2B scenarios) should be prioritised moving forward.

6G is expected to be a network of networks with multiple vertical industry technologies, such as internet of things, vehicle to everything, drones, broadcast and sensing, coexisting. Given that such verticals will face localised geographic concerns, there is a clear opportunity for India to develop and position itself in these areas.  Developing standards and technologies for specific verticals to meet domestic needs presents an opportunity for India.

Open radio access network (RAN) has not necessarily taken off for 5G. One of the key reasons for this is the non-availability of open hardware, which is essential for multiple software vendors to converge.

Open hardware is crucial for the success of any open technology. A key imperative for India in taking a leadership position in  6G should be the development of open hardware specifications, similar to the approach taken by the Open Compute Project.

Open hardware can significantly accelerate the adoption of Open RAN. India has a distinct opportunity to play a pivotal role in commoditising RAN hardware.